Fairy Tail: The Tracker Series
by BrightHero
Summary: What begins as an exciting summer event quickly spirals into an unwanted quest for Natsu and his crew. With Grey on the brink of losing his magic and being trapped in the kingdom of Stardell for good, will Natsu and the others be able to get to him before he's out of their grasp forever?
1. Chapter 1: A Summer Surprise?

Hey all, this is my first fanfiction and story ever. I thought this might be a cool project to go after, and considering it's the summer, nows the perfect time to do that I guess. I'm new to the site with formatting and all, so if anything looks off feel free to let me know.

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It was a bright and beautiful morning in the town of Magnolia. The sun was out, the birds were chirping, the townsfolk were smiling, it just seemed like any other day. Down on the southern coast was the well-known guild, Fairy Tail. Surprisingly, things seemed to be very calm down there for once. No chaos, no explosions, and no paperwork for Master Makarov to fill out at the request of the Magic Council.

"Natsu, slow down! Give me some of the food!" Happy shouted while floating above the pink-haired wizard. The guild was having a summer-kick off party which included a substantial buffet for its members. Natsu, Fairy Tail's resident Dragon Slayer, was chowing down at lightning speeds (no surprise to his peers).

"This food is _incredible_, Happy! You've got to try it!" Natsu yelled while stuffing a fist full of food in his mouth.

"I would, _but you're hogging the entire table!" _Steam blowing from his ears and red in the face, Happy could be seen tugging away at Natsu's head in hope of grabbing a fish for his troubles. A few tables down the way, his teammates could be seen sitting and eating together. Natsu and Happy's shenanigans certainly did not go unnoticed by the three.

"I swear, Natsu's got a black hole for a stomach" Lucy sighed. Her red-headed friend, Erza Scarlet, gave a small chuckle at her side. Lucy looked up at her and smiled, letting out a small laugh herself.

"I think you may be right Lucy," Erza's smile reached her eyes. She was grateful to have the rambunctious duo in the guild. Things were never boring with them around, that was for sure. Gray smirked playfully next to the girls and rolled his eyes.

"They sure do have a lot of energy, but man, you'd think they could have figured out how to share or somethin' by now."

"Well, that's Natsu and Happy for you. I'm glad they're the way they are, though."

"Well, you got me there," Gray said with a small shrug.

Looking off into space, Gray wondered, what would guild life be like without those two? Lucy and Erza had a point, it would be much more boring, which Gray didn't think he could stand. Sure, the two of them would butt heads frequently, but though he wouldn't admit it, he was grateful for the fiery presence of the hot-headed fool. Looking back on all of their journeys, he certainly wouldn't have gotten this far without Natsu's help from time to time. He smiled and turned back to Lucy and Erza's conversation.

Natsu and Happy made their way over to the group, plates piled to the sky with food threatening to fall at any minute. Happy with a fish hanging out of his mouth and grinning like a madman, and Natsu doing the same with a giant chicken wing. With a belch and a laugh, the two joined the conversation with their team and they were all laughing together again in no time.

"Excuse me, kids, would one of you be able to run a quick errand for me?" Master Makarov asked the team. They all looked surprised, Erza quickly piping in.

"Of course Master, is everything alright?" She asked as she rose from her seat.

"Oh yes my child, everything's just fine. Your old man just forgot to pick up some candles for the cake Mira made this morning. Would one of you be able to run to the store and pick some up?" Makarov rubbed the back of his head and chuckled sheepishly. The five members laughed lightly before Gray stood.

"Gramps, I can run to the store for you, I needed to pick up a few things on my way home after the party anyways. What kind do you need?" Checking for his wallet in his back pocket, he began clearing his plate to get ready to head out.

"Just some red and orange ones if you don't mind son. And here, let me get that plate for you." Taking the small plate and utensils from Gray, he smiled up at the boy, and Gray was thankful for the small gesture. Standing and pushing in his chair, he waved to the four at the table as he went to leave.

"You guys need anything while I'm gone?" As Gray glanced at the four faces at the table, Natsu threw his fists down on the table, startling the crew and getting a shriek and a jump from Lucy.

"You should get some ice cream, there's none here at the party!" Gray looked a bit surprised at the request and gave a small laugh.

"Hey flame-brain, last I checked you didn't like the cold."

"Well, _I'M _sorry for wanting to have food with my friends!" Natsu rose and butted heads with Gray, both members being heated and glaring at each other.

"Uh, hey, Natsu? Isn't there enough food here already?" Lucy asked while cowering behind Erza. She looked up to the ceiling in thought, resting her hand under her chin. A light-bulb appeared overhead as she put her fist in the palm of her opposite hand. 

"Natsu, that's a wonderful idea! We should all go out for a summer treat after the party ends." She said confidently. "Spending time with the guild is wonderful, but how often do the five of us get to wind down and relax as a team?"

Erza did have a very good point. The three members thought about it for a second, Natsu beaming proudly to the side of Gray at his grand idea. Gray smiled and spoke again.

"That's not a half-bad idea guys, alright, I'll grab some ice cream for after the party. How about creamsicles for everyone?" All four members beamed in agreement.

"Alright, I'll go out and pick everything up. Don't party too hard while I'm gone, and don't burn down the guildhall Natsu!" Gray shouted over his shoulder. Natsu threw one fist around angrily while the other continued to devour his mountain of a meal.

Gray was fairly relaxed when walking into town. Considering what he does for "work," which he hardly considered work because of the people in the guild, he always seemed to be on edge. Always ready for a battle. He stopped and closed his eyes, face pointing up to the sky. It really was a beautiful day out, he had to admit. Hands in his pocket, taking in the fresh air, he continued to walk through the main roads in town to the store.

He got to the store in a matter of minutes, as it wasn't far from the guildhall. It was a local shop, the "Magnolia MarketPlace," he frequented for groceries and other various items. He walked in a grabbed a basket to begin his brief shopping excursion.

He perused the aisles, grabbing things he had planned to pick up that night. Some spices for cooking, a new bottle of hand soap for the bathroom, and a set of lightbulbs he would be switching out in the morning in his hallway. Taking a look at his basket, the last things he needed were the five creamsicles and the packets of candles.

"Perfect, in and out and I'll be back to the guildhall just in time for them to cut the cake for everyone." He smiled and started to walk to the other aisles. He pondered for a minute, is this what normal life must be like for folks who aren't wizards of some kind? He looked down for a minute, not remembering a time when he had been so at ease.

He realized he didn't have any missions planned for the rest of the week and had some downtime for once. It felt odd to realize since he and his teammates were constantly going. He decided to embrace the peace of the moment, even if it was just a grocery store errand run. It wasn't like he had these moments often. He grabbed his last few belongings and checked out. Bags in hand, he started his walk back to Fairy Tail.

He was walking down the road and was almost back to the guildhall. Carts passing him by with merchants selling various fruits and vegetables, others were selling clothes and accessories they had crafted. While walking he plowed right into someone's back. Not realizing the person was there, he blinked and shook his head lightly.

Gray felt a bit embarrassed as he quickly realized this person was blocking his way down the street. With so many merchant carts, stands, and shops set up on the street, the road to walk through was narrow in this portion of the town. Considering it was summer, many tourists were visiting the area as well, shoppers and merchants alike. Magnolia was always very crowded at this time of year. He cleared his throat and tapped on the man's back.

"Excuse me, sir? I need to get past you." The man did not move, not a muscle. Gray was a bit perplexed at this, but it gave him a chance to look over the man's features.

He was a tall, thin man, about a foot taller than him it looked. He had long dirty blonde hair that was thin and passed his shoulders. He had dark, glossy brown eyes. Eyes that had not budged when Gray walked into the man. Gray looked at his clothes, thinking something looked odd. He was wearing black boots and black pants that were similar to the ones he wore. His top was a white shirt and he wore a black jacket over it. It looked like some odd mix-up of a tuxedo top with a biker's bottom in terms of style. He wore a black glove on one hand and three rings on his other.

Gray looked back up at his face and went to speak again, but noticed a strange mark on the cheek facing him. It was a circle with what appeared to be vines winding around the circle itself. It was a deep, bloody red marking, but it was just a marking, not a wound. Gray had never seen that symbol before, was it for a dark guild? His mouth hung open for a second while he stared. He went to speak again only for the man to cut him off.

"Can I help you, young man?" His voice was cold and flat, lacking any kind of inflection as he spoke. He just continued to look at the fruits and prices at the cart he was standing in front of. The man didn't bother to look at Gray.

"The roads are narrow and I need to get past you, but I guess you didn't hear me the first time. I'm sorry for running into you, now can you move? I have somewhere to be right now." Gray spoke sternly. There was something off about this guy, what the hell was his problem? Whatever it was, he gave off strange energy and Gray was starting to wonder who this guy was, or what he was doing in Magnolia.

The man finally moved as soon as Gray finished his sentence. Eyes going wide, they slowly glanced over to Gray. Gray was weirded out by this guy by now and took a step backward. Once the man turned his head to face Gray entirely, he gasped, and a sickly grin spread across the man's face. In an instant, the man appeared in front of Gray inches from his face. The words the man whispered next sent chills across Gray's entire body.

"_Found you_."

An explosion in the narrow area sent everything around it flying. Fruits, pieces of wood, clothes for sale scattered all across the road. People started to scream and run away before the smoke could clear.

The man's torso was bent forward like a rag doll but his legs were locked in a wide stance. He slowly brought himself to an upright posture. His head still hung low and his eyes were covered by his hair. Looking ahead at the black-haired boy who lay on the ground, eyes shut tight and covered in scratches and bruises from the explosion. The sinister grin made a second appearance on the man's face as his lanky body moved toward Gray.

The man picked Gray up by the front collar of his shirt, lifting him from the ground. The mark on his cheek radiating an eerie light as he chuckled a high-pitched laugh. He just stood there holding Gray up and laughed, throwing his head backward in some sick excitement. Right before the man could speak again, Gray looked him dead in the eyes, smirking.

"_Gotcha."_

The man's eyes went wide with fear as Gray's body fell to pieces of ice on the ground, quickly beginning to melt. The man, in a sheer fit of rage, grabbed the ice pieces and screamed to the sky. He was furious, where had the boy gone? The boy he needed to piece his life back together? He had finally found him and he was out of reach again. He couldn't give up, he needed that child dead or alive. With a wobble, the man stood from the now puddle that was Gray's body.

"Gray Fullbuster, I finally have you."

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Thanks for reading, leave any reviews and thoughts you might have.


	2. Chapter 2: Only The Beginning

A way's up the road Gray was sprinting back to Fairy Tail. He knew something was weird with that guy. At the last second Gray created an ice decoy and jumped into a nearby alleyway. He was a bit scratched up, but nothing he thought could be serious. Climbing up onto the roof of a building he hopped across and quickly got back down to the main road. He could see Fairy Tail down the street, but he knew the man couldn't be far behind him. The store was a five-minute walk from the guildhall which didn't buy him much time.

Panting harder, he pushed his heels into the ground and threw himself through the guild hall doors, slamming them shut and holding himself up against them as they closed shut. Everyone stopped their games and dancing to look up at a gasping Gray Fullbuster. Erza, Natsu, Happy and Lucy rushed over to his side.

"Gray! What happened? I thought you just went to the store!" Lucy asked frantically. Before anyone could get another question in, Gray looked up at his fellow guild members. His backside was pushed against the doors, but he kept his hands on his knees from exhaustion. He took a deep breath before speaking.

"Where...is Master...Makarov?" He demanded through pants. Erza looked extremely concerned at this.

"Gray, sit down and tell us what happened. Mira, fetch the Master from the second floor. Gajeel and Juvia, stand by and guard the front door." Gray didn't look very stable even when leaning up against the doors. Erza and Natsu started to guide him to a table as the others did as Erza requested. Natsu wrapped his other arm behind Gray's back to support him as Erza went to do the same, only for Gray to cry out and stumble.

"Gah–!" Gray grabbed his side and fell forward.

"Gray! What's gotten into you man?!" Natsu putting his left arm over Gray's back to grab his left side, while his right hand was used to support Gray's chest. Gray winced when he tried to get back up and gritted his teeth as he spoke.

"R-right side. _Hurts._"

Erza and Natsu looked at each other and looked down toward Natsu's stomach. Out of Gray's side, a small piece of wood was sticking out. They both gasped. Erza helped Natsu lower Gray to the ground and laid him down to assess the damage. Gray tried to sit up only for Erza to put a hand to his chest and Natsu to keep his hands on Grey's shoulders. Natsu knew Grey wanted answers, but it was clear somebody had hurt him and he needed to rest. Natsu was going to make whoever did this pay.

"Gray, you can't fight us right now, we don't know how badly you're injured or how deep this wound is. I need you to tell me what happened after you left." Gray took a breath before speaking, he knew he needed to relax with the wound in his side. He had a feeling it wasn't life-threatening, but it still hurt like a bitch.

"Bumped into some lanky freak in the market area. Looked at me all weird and attacked me out of the blue, there was an explosion. I created an ice decoy at the last second and ran back here. Guess I must have been slow dodging the explosion after all." He glanced down at his blood-stained side, his head being propped up on Natsu's knees.

"There was something off about that guy Erza, he had this weird mark on the bottom of his face, I think he was with a dark guild." Erza's eyes went wide at the mention of a dark guild marking. Natsu took note of Erza's shock.

"What did the mark look like Gray? Have we seen them around before?" Natsu had a million questions for his friend but tried his best to contain himself.

"It was this bloody red color. It was just a normal circle, but there were vines wrapping around the circle. I've never seen it before, do any of you know what it could mean?" Lucy, Natsu, and himself all looked to Erza who seemed very conflicted. Glaring, Natsu put his fists together and growled.

"I don't know, but I don't care. Whoever hurt you is a _dead man walking_ Gray." Gray was a bit surprised by the Dragon-slayers sudden protectiveness over him, but he would feel the same if he weren't the one on the floor with a shard of wood sticking out of his side.

Erza was in utter shock that Gray had run into _him _so haphazardly. How could she have let him go off alone? Better yet, why were _they_ in Magnolia?! Natsu piped in from Gray's other side, pulling Erza from her thoughts.

"Erza talk to us, snap out of it! What does the symbol mean?!" Erza looked up at the two, anger present in her eyes. She looked to the ground and suddenly over to Levy.

"Levy! Cast an enchantment spell over the guild! Do not let anyone inside or outside of Fairy Tail walls!" Levy was shocked by this, but ran to grab her glasses and books and went out to the front courtyard. Jet and Droy followed her as a backup in case anything happened outside.

Gray and Natsu were shocked by Erza's second outburst, and Lucy held a scared Happy not far from Natsu. Gray looked up to her again, he needed more information about what was happening.

"Erza, tell us what's going on. You're freakin' us all out, that's not going to help anybod–" Erza clamped a hand over Gray's mouth. Inches from his face, she whispered something he'd never heard before.

"I need you not to move a muscle. I need you to keep your voice down and stay hidden. We are going to take you up to the infirmary, but I need you to stay as quiet and still as possible, Gray." Gray was completely shocked by the request, but regained himself quickly and gave a small nod. He laid his head back onto Natsu's lap and did as he was told. Ezra had never directed him to stand down, not once.

"Reedus, I need you to create a cot for Natsu and me to carry Gray upstairs on. The less motion he creates himself, the better." Reedus gave a firm nod, and in a matter of seconds, a cot appeared by Grays side. It had handles on either end so they could carry him to the infirmary. Erza looked at Gray tenderly.

"Gray, this might hurt, but I promise we'll be gentle" All Gray could do was stare at her, confused as to what was going on. He had hardly seen Erza this pressing so out of the blue, but he knew it must be urgent if this is how she was reacting. Natsu, Lucy, and Erza gently lifted Gray onto the cot. The board in his side hurt, but Gray had fared much worse in the past. Erza and Natsu began carrying him up the stairs as the Master came around the corner. His face was a mix of anger and more prominently concern.

"Erza, what's going on? What is the meaning of this?"

"Master, we need to take Gray to the infirmary. He's currently injured, but I'm afraid that isn't the worst news." She turned and continued walking with the boys to the infirmary. The Master and Mira followed them into a nearby room. Once inside they lifted Gray onto the bed, still trying their best to be gentle. Mira began working on his wound as Erza began explaining her actions.

"Gray, what did the man you walked into look like? Did you get a clear look at him?" Gray looked puzzled since he had just been told to act like a statue, he answered her questions quietly.

"Well yeah, I got a good look at him since he didn't budge when I walked into him. He was wearing some fancy, suit, biker, mix-up outfit." He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Honestly, didn't look like he knew how to dress himself. He had dirty blonde hair and it was pretty long for a guy. He had brown eyes and that damn mark on his face. Erza, please tell us what's going on. It isn't like you to wall up the guild like this, what's happening?"

She closed her eyes, pinched the bridge of her nose, and took a breath. All four party of her members looking at her for answers. She looked back up at them ready to explain. To Erza's surprise, Master Makarov stepped forward to continue the conversation.

"Gray, who you've described to me sounds like someone the Magic Council is well aware exists. In our world, there are common folk, people who do not or cannot practice magic. Then, there are wizards like all of us in Fairy Tail. There is another type of person, one I've only run into a small handful of times in my life. They are called trackers, and they are a type of assassin who specifically live to capture the heads of wizards."

Aside from Erza, everyone in the room was completely shocked by this. Gray was baffled, how had he managed to run into something like that? Lucy looked extremely worried, Happy was burying his face into the crook of her neck, and Natsu looked furious. Master Makarov sighed and spoke again.

"Mira here has engaged with these types before, once on an S-Class mission many years ago. Mira, what do you remember of the man you fought?" Mira had made some leeway on Gray's wound, proving Gray's thought of it being minor to be correct. She had stitched his side shut and started to bandage his abdomen. She stopped moving when Makarov spoke to her and hung her head low. She let out an aggravated breathe and looked up at Gray.

"Gray, the man you ran into. Did he make contact with you?"

"I mean, I ran right into him, so yeah."

"Did he touch your sick? You're sure this piece of wood came from the explosion?"

"Yes I'm sure, he grabbed the decoy I left and that was long after I'd hopped a couple rooftops and runoff. What would it mean if he had grabbed me or something?"

"He would be able to hunt you down and kidnap you, Gray. Trackers are not supposed to exist in our world. The Magic Council banned their presence here decades ago." She closed her eyes in thought with a hand on her chin. Gray was alarmed to hear all of this at once. Kidnapped? For what reason? What the hell would that guy want with him?

"Still, I don't know what they would be doing here. Master, have you got any idea?"

"I'm afraid not my dear, but I will have to speak to the Magic Council as soon as possible about this. This is not a matter we can wait to address."

"Gramps, what happens if that guy comes here? How would he know where I am? It isn't like he saw my guild marking." Natsu snorted off to the side of the room.

"You didn't strip for once? Man, that's pretty good for you, ice-princes."

"Shut up flame brain!" Gray glared at the howling Natsu.

Gray went to move, but hissed and sat back, feeling himself tugging at the still fresh wound in his side. The smug look leaving Natsu's face, he immediately became concerned for Gray again. Mira looked up at Gray, irritated.

"Gray, you need to stay still. You're going to rip the stitches I put in and open the gash in your side again. You're lucky it wasn't any deeper. If it had gone far enough to puncture your lungs or other organs who knows if you would have made it back here." It was very unlike Mira to talk so aggressively to anyone in the guild like that. Gray looked away from her, he knew she was right.

"I'm sorry Mira, I'll try to be more careful. In the meantime, what do we do now? What can we do?" He asked, looking between the only three people who knew what they were dealing with. Mira spoke again, with a more gentle tone.

"Gray, Erza's right. You need to stay here and you need to stay quiet. Think of yourself as if you were on a radar right now. If you don't move, it'll be much harder for him to track you down. And, with Levy's enchantment surrounding the guild, that should make sure you're all set."

"So I just have to sit here and do nothing? What if something happens to the guild?! People could get hurt because of me! What if finds the guild an–"

"Gray, that is enough. If you can't calm down we'll have no choice but to put you to sleep. If you cause a commotion, a tracker _will_ show up here." Makarov sighed, looking to Gray's teammates.

"I'm counting on you four to stay here and keep him calm and safe until this matter is dealt with. I will contact the Magic Council immediately, but Gray you are not to leave this room before tomorrow morning. Am I clear young man?"

"Yes, sir." Feeling defeated and frustrated, Gray looked to the floor, unsure of how to feel or what to do. His mind was going a million miles an hour with so many questions and concerns, how was he supposed to sit here and do nothing?! He felt someone hop on the bed and put a hand on his head. He gasped and looked up to Makarov patting his head.

"Don't beat yourself up over this son, we'll get this dealt with quickly. I know you hate sitting around when you want to help. Let us keep you safe, alright my boy? You four, try to keep him in good spirits for me please." Makarov smiled at his teammates, who flashed four thumbs up responses back to him.

"Yes Master, we won't let you down."

"Of course! Leave it to us Master Makarov!"

"You got it, gramps, you can count on us!"

"Aye, sir!"

Gray smiled at his team and laughed. How did he get lucky enough to be paired with such a dedicated team? He smiled at Master Makarov.

"Alright Gramps, I'll stay up here for now." Makarov smiled at the young man and hopped off the bed.

"Good, I'll update you as soon as I have more information." With that, he left the room to contact the Magic Council.

Gray was glad he had his team with him, but he was bummed for sure that he had to stay in the infirmary overnight. It couldn't be so bad, right? Without a doubt, Erza and Natsu would have some deadly pillow fight together, and he would probably spend most of the time talking to Lucy and Happy. Considering the circumstances, things weren't so bad he supposed.

"Alright, I'm fired up now! Let's get ready for the best sleepover ever!" Natsu was jumping up and down, forgetting about the last hour's events. Lucy looked appalled

"Natsu, do you ever know when to give it a rest?" She said with a weary grin and a hand on her forehead.

"Natsu this is no time to be planning a sleepover. If we are to protect Gray, we'll need to take separate watches around the guildhall tonight once everyone leaves. I'll tell Levy to take the enchantment down from around the guild, and we'll make a plan for tonight once I get back." Erza spun on her heel and left the room to go find Levy's team and give them an update on the situation.

Natsu calmed down and grinned at Erza as she left the room. His smile becoming less intense, he looked over to Gray as his eyebrows furrowed the slightest bit.

"Hey, I know you're not happy about all of this. You hangin' in there okay?" He asked Gray. Natsu could be dense as a brick most of the time, but he could tell when something was wrong with his friends.

"We're your teammates, you can tell us what's on your mind, ya know." Lucy chirped up with a smile. Gray looked between the two of them and laid his head back onto the pillow and stared up at the ceiling.

"...can I be real for a minute?"

"That's why I asked man, you look like you need it." Lucy and Happy nodded in agreement.

"I'm pissed guys. Everyone's freaking out over this _thing_, but no one's giving me any answers! How am I supposed to stay here all night and not do anything about it? Agh!" With a groan he covered his face with his hands and stayed quiet for a minute. His teammates felt bad for him, not being able to do anything was just as frustrating for them, so they could imagine how much this had to suck.

"I hear you, Gray. Look, tomorrow, we'll go find this guy and kick his ass! Show em' what happens when you mess with Fairy Tail." Natsu beamed confidently with his arms crossed. Gray looked up at him and grinned.

"Well I'm certainly not going to sit out from this fight, we've got your back, Gray!" She said assuredly. Happy leaped out of her arms and gave a strong "Aye, sir!" in agreement to the two.

"You can bet your ass we're going to, we'll show em' what we're made of." Gray was feeling just as fired up as his friends were. The three teammates bumped fists as they thought about tomorrow and what that would bring to their guild.

The rest of the evening was normal for the majority of the guild. The barrier had been taken down from the outside of the guildhall and members were free to roam around again as they pleased. Gray felt guilty for dropping the candles, but the cake still tasted incredible nonetheless. His friends brought him a plate and they all ate upstairs together. Before each guild member left they would go upstairs to give Gray well wishes. As the party wrapped up and the guild members began cleaning, Gray was upstairs in his bed with a book in hand. Lucy came up to check on him.

"Hey, thought I would come to see how you're doing." She said from the doorway. Happy wasn't with her this time, but downstairs flying around with Natsu.

"Well I don't feel as crummy as I did a few hours ago, and my side doesn't hurt as much. I am really tired, I guess everything from earlier must have worn me out more than I realized." He finished the sentence with a hearty yawn, getting a smile from Lucy.

"You should head to bed then. Today's been stressful for you, so I bet you could use the rest. Erza, Natsu, and I were chatting briefly about a plan downstairs, so we'll fill you in before you go to sleep for the night." Gray smiled in appreciation.

"That would be great. Thanks, Lucy." She gave him a thumbs up.

"Of course! I'll run down and grab them. Be right back!" With that, she skipped out of the room to assemble the other half of their team. Gray dog eared the page he was on and set it on his left side. He yawned again and tried to stretch as best he could without ripping his stitches again. He felt so stiff, maybe the day really had worn him down. It was an out of the ordinary day for sure, so he tried not to get himself worked up again by worrying too much. Lucy came back in with Erza, Natsu, and Happy. With the five of them together, Erza started the conversation of their plan for the night.

"I've spoken to Levy's team and Gajeel. They will be patrolling the four corners of the guildhall property tonight, while the five of us stay inside. We'll take turns watching the halls tonight. Lucy, you'll be up first from 9:00 PM to midnight. I'll take the next shift of midnight to 3:00 AM. Lastly, Natsu, you and Happy will take a 3:00 AM to 7:00 AM shift." Natsu almost commented on the extra hour of the shift but figured it was because Happy would be with him and decided not to comment. He and Lucy both gave a firm nod to Erza. Erza continued with the logistics.

Each member involved will have a walkie talkie on them, so we'll have to hand them off to each other as we switch shifts. The crew of four outside will have them as well." Erza looked to Gray and chuckled.

"Make sure you thank the four of them sometime. They were dead set on being the ones to patrol the property all night." Gray was shocked. They would be awake all night? He smiled and shook his head. Fairy Tail members are truly something else when it comes to their friends. He looked back up to his teammates.

"So we're all set for the night then?" He looked to Erza for confirmation.

"Well, that is if everything goes according to plan and no one shows up. But with how many people we have out there, we should be able to catch it before anything too crazy happens. And, you'll have two people here with you at all times Gray. Sound good?" Gray gave a nod in response.

"Thanks, guys. I'm sorry for getting into this mess in the first place. I can't wait to make that stupid freak pay for this" He gripped the bed sheets in anger. Erza walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder and he looked up at her again.

"There's no need for that," she said with a wink. "We'll pummel this guy soon enough." With a pat on the shoulder, she turned and went to leave. The four other teams members chuckling at the Natsu-esque comment. Erza smiled and turned back to her teammates.

"I think it's about time we all get ready. Lucy, here's your walkie talkie for the night. Come in and wake me up as soon as your shift is over."

"You've got it Erza! Get some rest, you guys." She said as she waved goodbye and left the room.

With the conversation ended, Gray could hardly keep his eyes open. Before Erza and Natsu were even settled in Gray was already asleep. Natsu looked at him and then to Erza.

"Natsu, I know what you're worried about, and that isn't going to happen." Natsu stared into the back of her head, and she finally turned and walked towards him, embracing him in a hug.

"Gray isn't going anywhere, we're going to keep him safe."

"But Erza, none of us know what a Tracker is, half of us hadn't heard of it before today!" he hissed quietly, trying not to wake up Gray.

"Since when have you ever thought about what your enemy is? You usually just go in head first, fiery fists swinging." She said with a chuckle. "Master Makarov spoke with the Magic Council and they're going to be patrolling Magnolia over the next couple of days. With that security and all of Fairy Tail on our side, no one is going to touch Gray. Can you sleep well knowing you're going to be patrolling and helping him in a few hours?"

"..." Natsu stared down to the floor in thought. He knew he would be helping, but against what exactly? He sighed and met her eyes for the last time.

"You've got it Erza, we're taking this guy down!"

"That's the Natsu I know, now go rest up, tonights going to be a long one."

With that, they each got into their beds ready to tackle whatever their enemy had planned.

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	3. Chapter 3: The Tracker's Plan: Foiled!

Lucy was the first of their team up for guard duty. She wandered around the guild with a flashlight in hand and Plue wobbling beside her.

"I wonder what a Tracker would want with Gray, this whole situation is so bizarre…" She wondered out loud to herself. Plue squeaked timidly, Lucy figured he was wondering the same thing she was.

Lucy walked through the hallways, the main rooms, the basement once (and didn't return thanks to the abundance of spiders), and patio areas. Nothing jumped out as odd to her, nothing felt abnormal, everything was the same as it always was. She peeked her head quietly into the infirmary at one point to make sure everyone was sleeping fine, which was the case. She smiled and continued her walk through the guildhall.

She gave a quiet gasp as she remembered the walkie talkie she had. She could talk to Levy, Jet, Droy, and Gajeel and see how things were looking farther away from the property. She clicked a button to talk and tried to get in touch with Levy.

"Psst, Levy, you there? It's Lucy."

"_Hey girl, how's everything looking inside the guild?" _Levy chirped back. Lucy smiled, Levy always sounded so upbeat. It was refreshing considering the day's events thus far.

"Nothing out of the ordinary, everything looks fine. I want to think nothing is wrong, but something seems fishy here."

"_What do you mean fishy? Like there could be a trap?"_

"Well, the way Erza, Mira, and the Master described these Tracker things is that they hunt down Mages for money. They kill wizards specifically for work."

"_WHAT?! That's crazy! If that's the case though, why would they be after Gray?"_

"I don't know, but what's on my mind is something Gray told us the Tracker said to him. The guy stared at him and before the explosion went off he whispered, "found you."

"_Jesus, that's not creepy at all."_ Lucy snickered at Levy's sarcasm before continuing.

"So if that's how he reacted, why wouldn't he have gone after Gray? Think about it, if Trackers are as powerful as everyone's described them to be so far, why wouldn't it have gone after him? You can see the MarketPlace from the front door of Fairy Tail! It doesn't make any sense...unless...what if–"

"_What if they knew they couldn't catch Gray right now?" _Lucy gasped at the realization.

"That's it! These things hunt wizards for a living! They have to be smart enough to know not to go after an entire guild hall just for one person. So if they weren't going to catch him here tonight, what would be their next plan?"

"_Well, Makarov did give Gray orders to stay in the infirmary until tomorrow, when's the next time he could be alone?"_

Lucy and Plue thought for a minute before a light bulb went off over both of their heads and the "ah-ha" moments struck them. Lucy's moment faded as the slow realization struck her.

"Levy, how would it know that Gray had been told _not_ to leave the infirmary?" Both girls went dead silent for what felt like an eternity as the realization hit both of them. Lucy turned on her heel and raced back to Gray's room from the main area of the first floor.

"Levy, throw the enchantment spell up around the guild, _now!_" Lucy screamed.

"_Right! I'll call the boys and send them inside!" _With that, their conversation had ended. As Lucy ran up the stairs two at a time, she stopped, nearly at the top. She felt the air drop in temperature, and it was not from Gray's magic. This was a cold that felt hollow and dripped with evil as she got closer to the room. She decided to go in prepared with one of her strongest spirits. A bright, yellow light appeared, and Loke was presented in front of her.

"Hey Lucy, what's going on? It's the middle of the night." Loke observed, looking around the dark and empty guildhall. She grabbed him by the wrist and started to run towards Gray's room.

"No time! Gray's in danger! Gotta save him! C'mon!" She blurted out. Loke gasped and a determined look appeared on his face.

"_Not on my watch, they aren't."_ Loke thought to himself. Loke was well aware of the cold spreading through the air and knew it couldn't be coming from Gray. He knew Gray's magic, and this wasn't it.

They sprinted up to the room, each of them giving a determined shout at they each rammed the door to the infirmary open with their shoulder and threw the lights on. Lucy had her whip ready, and Loke had already entered his battle stance.

"Alright, you freak! Where are you! Show yourself! We're not afraid of y–" She stopped mid-sentence, realizing the same three people were in the room. She and Loke dropped their hands in confusion as Erza and Natsu were startled awake. Erza jumped out of bed, swords already in hand.

"Lucy! Have you found anything? What's wrong?" She asked with urgency. All Lucy could do was stare in shock.

"_I don't get it, we figured it out. The air, the feeling in the guild...what is this?_" She thought to herself.

While Erza, Loke, and Lucy were all confused from Lucy's outburst into their room, Natsu had turned to see if Gray was alright. He turned over his shoulder but was surprised to see the ice mage hadn't moved a muscle. He went over to shake the ice mage awake to see if he was okay. Gray was a heavy sleeper, but even Natsu had woken up. Gray should have been awake by now. He put a hand on his shoulder and gave a slight nudge, being cautious of the wound in his friends' side.

"Gray? Gray, can you hear me?" Gray didn't move still. Natsu thought for a minute and gave Gray a hefty shove of the same shoulder.

"Gray, can you hear me?" He asked, drawing the attention of his friends. The other three looked at him. After a moment of silence from everyone, Gray squinted his eyes in an effort to open them. He managed to get one eye partway open, squinting the other. Through gritted teeth, his eye panned over to Natsu.

"N-nat– su," It was incredibly difficult for him to get any words out, let alone with his mouth closed. By this point, the other three had run to his bedside.

"Natsu, what's the matter?" She asked, watching the two. She watched as Natsu grabbed Gray's hand and squeezed, trying to get his friend to move.

"Gray, can you move?"

"No, can't...m-move. S-something... wrong–" his friends were bewildered by this. All Gray had done was go to sleep, there shouldn't have been any issues with that. Erza looked back to the other two who had barged in earlier.

"Why did you two come running in? What did you find?" She demanded.

"Levy and I were talking and tried to figure out what the Tracker could be doing. We figured if it hadn't come right for Gray after the scene downtown earlier it must have had a reason for doing that. We thought it might attack here, and when I was on my way up, the temperature dropped like crazy. Look, see? There's even frost on the win...dows…?" She almost pointed across the room...trying to point out what she thought was frost on the windows, only to realize she was wrong. Erza and Loke gasped, Natsu looked at the window furiously.

Outside of the window, you could see skinny vines growing up the lining of the building. They were a dark blue color and were thornless. They didn't appear to have gotten very far, but Erza knew what that meant for her team. Then she remembered Gray's inability to move, but couldn't figure out how those were connected. She looked to Natsu and her other teammates.

"Natsu, you are to take Gray out of this room and keep him away from the Tracker. Lucy and Loke, come with me and we'll track him down."

"You got it Erza." He said with confidence. He was determined to keep Gray away from that thing and to pummel its face in as soon as he got the chance.

"Lucy, have you contacted the boys outside? Do they know the current situation?"

"Yes, Levy said she would tell them to head inside. They should be here by now." Erza nodded.

"Alright, let's go then we have no time to spare!" She ordered. Natsu carried Gray on his back and ran to the next safest spot in the guildhall he could think of: Gramps office on the top floor. Erza, Lucy, and Loke all ran the opposite way downstairs and began brainstorming an attack plan. Lucy continued to think of where the Tracker could be. As they went farther from Gray's room, the cold lessened. She gasped and stopped in her tracks.

"Stop!" She screamed, fists clenched at her sides. Loke and Erza skidded to a halt, looking back at their friend.

"Lucy, what now?" Loke asked. He was getting more worried by the second at not having any answers to her running around and constant outbursts. He needed answers from her.

"I think it's playing a game with us." She said, voice wavering in anger. She looked to Erza and Loke.

"It's getting colder when we get near Gray's room, but it warms up when we go away from it. How many floors does this guild have?" Erza's eyes widened in realization.

"Of course! Lucy, you're a genius. Loke, I need you to follow Natsu and Gray and bring them back here. Lucy, summon another spirit and stay on this floor, watch Gray's room especially. I'll take the basement and see what I can find about this thing."

Lucy gave a thumbs up to Erza and summoned Sagitarrius. She remembered they couldn't touch this guy, so keeping him at a fighting distance would be best. She didn't know how it would react to Celestial Spirits. Loke gave a firm nod and ran off after the two boys. Erza made her way down the basement as quickly as should could, smiling to herself.

She looked at Gray's room and decided to investigate. She walked back in and turned the light on, and immediately went to the window. Looking at the vines, she took a closer look at them. She needed to see some details about them to figure out a hunch she had about them. She dug around the drawers nearby and found a small magnifying glass and tweezers from a first aid kit. She turned to Sagittarius, her features looking very serious.

"Sagittarius, I'm going to open this window to check out what these vines are. Be ready to attack if anything happens." Sagittarius gave a brief "Yes madam!" and his signature wave before drawing his bow and arrow.

"_I have to do this to help Gray and the others!" _She thought, determined to help her friends. She took a nervous gulp and went to unlock the window and froze.

"What the–?" The window's lock was undone. She glanced at the window on the right side farther from the bed and saw it's clasp was locked as it should be at night. She looked back to the window with the vines on it and saw it was opened just a hair at the bottom. Sagittarius put his bow down before he spoke.

"Miss Lucy, whatever could be the matter?"

"The...the window was already open, Sagittarius. But how…? We checked everything before we went to bed, I don't understand." She thought out loud. It was true, the guild had been locked everywhere before they went to bed. They all figured it couldn't hurt to check everything over once. She shook her head and took the magnifying glass to the lock. She gasped when she saw the same dark blue vines had gotten inside the lock and twisted it open. They were very small, but with the magnifying glass, she could see everything. She worked her way down the window and saw the dark blue vines were not only attached to the base of the window, but they were resting in the bottom tray of the window frame. Except, these ones were glowing ever so faintly. She looked closer to see they had glowing blue dust falling off of them. She watched one of the small particles get blown forward by a breeze that went by, but it was so small she lost it once it got too far from the window.

"_That's it! These things must have blown into the room while everyone was asleep and Gray must have been breathing them in!"_ She felt proud having figured it out, but quickly shrieked and ran away from the window. Cowering behind Sagittarius she pointed and screamed at the window.

"Sagittarius destroy the window and the vines around it right now!" She hollered. Sagittarius did as he was told and each gave a sigh of relief.

"Phew, I'm glad we got that sorted out. I've got to go warn the others! Thanks, Sagittarius!" She gave a thumbs up to her spirit as he saluted her and returned to the Celestial World. She looked to the destroyed window and turned on her heel to go tell her friends her new discovery.

"_Lucy sure is a crafty one, I've got to give her that. She came up with this all on her own. I know the Master would be proud of her." _She thought to herself. Descending the stairs to the basement with a torch in hand and a sword in the other, Erza immediately noticed the temperature trait Lucy had mentioned. Erza didn't think he would be down here, because it was getting warmer.

She entered the storage area they had and noticed a few bookshelves on her left side. Mounting the torch into a nearby holder on the wall, she quickly scanned through the books to try and find any more information about Trackers. After a few minutes of looking, she grabbed a hardcover book, covered in a thick layer of dust. It had fallen onto its side on the shelf. Erza brushed the dust off and blew away the remaining filth and cobwebs. She walked over to the torch to see the title better. Gasping to herself, she grabbed the torch and ran back upstairs to find Lucy.

Loke was running up the stairs to find Natsu and Gray. He wished they had asked them where they were planning to go before the group split up, but if that Tracker was watching them, it might have been better for them not to say. He thought about everything Lucy said and realized she might be onto something. What worried him about her point was that the temperature _was_ dropping the farther upstairs he went, and the closer he got to the boys. He looked at the windows as he ran down the hallway, noticing no vines on the windows. Why wouldn't those be following them? He shook his head and put the thought aside for the meantime.

Loke rounded a corner and started to check into each room in the guild. Eventually, he reached Gramps office to find it was locked.

"Natsu, it's Loke! Are you guys in there?" He whispered. He heard the faintest of footsteps approaching the door and stepped back, ready to attack. He let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding when Natsu opened the door. Natsu was a bit surprised that Loke had followed them. Loke saw Gray sitting up against Gramps desk with his white coat draped around his shoulders. Happy was sitting in the boy's lap trying to comfort him as best he could.

"Loke, what are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to go check around the other floors or somethin'?" Natsu let the orange-haired man in and shut and locked the door behind him again.

"I was until I realized Lucy's observation about the temperature was correct." Both boys raised a brow at him, indicating an explanation was needed. Loke sighed and sat down with the two boys and Happy.

"After the Six of us split up, Lucy noted that as we moved away from your room, the temperature would change. Depending on where we went it got colder or warmer. Lucy figured out if this thing must be playing a game with all of us." The ice and fire wizards looked at each other in confusion.

"Gray, did you notice anything? I must not have because I'm always warm. The cold never really gets to me." Natsu said, a hand going to his chin in thought.

"No, I didn't feel anything. Maybe it's because I'm so used to the cold myself, where Natsu just never feels it." Gray sweatdropped before putting a hand to his forehead. "Then again, I literally couldn't feel anything when I woke up earlier." Loke looked between the two boys, surprise evident on his face.

"Wait, you're telling me neither of you felt this hall way's temperature drop?"

"Yeah, we had no idea. Must've been too subtle for either of us to notice" Natsu spoke. Gray nodded in agreement as Happy hopped out of his lap and flew into the air.

"Wait! Those vines we saw on the window earlier, we haven't seen those anywhere else, have we guys?" Both Gray and Natsu shook their heads, the only window they were seen growing on was the window in the infirmary by Gray's bed. Loke remembered seeing no vines on the windows in the hallway as he ran after the bunch. He gasped and looked to Gray.

"Gray, you moved your arm a minute ago, are you starting to regain any ability to move?" Gray looked down to his arms and tried moving around. He curled his toes in his shoes and bent his fingers on both hands. He was definitely able to move better than he could in the infirmary.

"Looks like it. So hold on, if the temperature dropped in this hallway but the vines are down in the infirmary, how do those connect?" He looked to Loke in confusion. Natsu sweatdropped and let his head drop backward.

"Man, my brain hurts from all of this. None of it makes any sense!" He said as his fists became inflamed.

"And you wonder why I call you flame-brain" the ice-mage muttered to himself. Loke cleared his throat getting the attention of the three.

"If this thing is playing games with us, then my bet is that the temperature drops as we get closer to the Tracker itself. The vines seemed to only have affected Gray because Natsu and Erza had no problem when we woke you up earlier." Gray suddenly realized what Loke was getting at.

"Are you saying those vines were only a trap to get me out of the infirmary while Natsu and Erza were still asleep?" Loke nodded. Natsu raised his eyebrows as he spoke.

"You know, that would make sense. I had to try a couple of times to wake you up Gray, and even then you couldn't do much." Gray put the pieces together. Damn, this thing almost got him _again_. He was starting to get anxious between that and the fact that he couldn't fight off anything in his current state. He was totally defenseless against the Tracker. A shiver went down his spine as the thought started to sink in.

"It makes sense. Lucy and Levy figuring out this thing has been watching us is a huge development. Who knows what would have happened had they not figured it out in time. She's got one hell of a head on her shoulders, there's no doubt about that." Loke smirked cockily, showing pride for his friends. Natsu jumped up from where he had been seated, looking ready to fight.

"Then Loke, we need to get Gray out of the guild! If this guy is using some plant to get to him, shouldn't we get him to an area where he can't use vines or anything like that?" Natsu proposed urgently.

"Natsu I think you're right. But where could we bring him to make sure this guys magic can't work on him?" Suddenly the two boys heard Happy yelping at Gray.

"Gray, you shouldn't be moving around yet! You're still too weak from whatever the Tracker did to you earlier!" Gray was already starting to get up. He had one arm holding the desk behind him, and one arm on the ground and had one knee up already. He was shaking slightly through how hard he was trying to force himself to move. He had to get whatever this was to wear off, he had to start moving around or it wouldn't go away.

"The H-harbor. We need to g-get to the harbor." Just as Gray stumbled forward, Natsu was there to catch him for a second time that day.

"We gotcha bud, we're not letting this guy anywhere near you again." A glare appeared on Natsu's face again.

"I've got to say, Paralyzing its prey like this is a coward's move. If you don't move around, the Tracker has a harder time finding you. But being paralyzed, you need to move around for it's magic to wear off. If you try to break the spell, that draws its attention." Natsu snarled, angry that this thing had cornered his friend into such a state. Gray sighed, he hated that Natsu and Loke were right.

"It sounds like the paralysis spell works the same as sleep paralysis. Gray, I'm going out on a limb here, but until you can move entirely again, just keep moving your hands and your feet like you tried earlier. It's subtle, so hopefully, that won't set off anything crazy with the Tracker." Gray gave a nod in response as the four got ready to head out.

Natsu carried Gray bridal style, and Gray had his left arm draped behind Natsu's neck for support. He wasn't happy about this by any means, but he really had no choice in the matter.

"The Harbor would work. If he's having these vines grow on buildings he must need dirt of some kind for them to grow out of. Not a lot of good dirt in the ocean if you ask me. Let's meet up with the others and head there."

"Right!" The three responded confidently.

Once the four left Gramps office, they made their way to the main area of the guild. As they ran downstairs they could hear two female voices around the corner.

"So _that's_ how this thing fights?! That's such a dirty trick, what a coward! Urgh, I can't wait to kick this guys butt for what he's done to our guild!" Lucy snarled.

"We need to get out of this building and go to the harbor, who knows how much time we have left," Erza said with a cold tone.

"_Yup, that's Lucy and Erza alright, and Lucy is not screwing around anymore,"_ Loke smirked to himself. He could feel the magic energy coming from his master around the corner, and he could feel the anger radiating from Erza.

"No need to worry ladies, we'll be able to do that soon enough," Loke called forward. Lucy and Erza smiled, turning towards him and the others.

"Gray, Natsu, Happy!" Lucy yelled with relief. She was so glad to see them all safe and in one place. She ran up and hugged the two boys, ignoring the fact that Gray was being carried by Natsu. Gray smiled and gave her a pat on the back with his free hand while Natsu beamed at his blonde teammate.

"Boys, what were you able to figure out?" Erza asked. Loke explained everything they had gone over in the office upstairs. The girls went ahead and filled the boys in on their discoveries. They were all in agreement about needing to get Gray to the Harbor.

"It looks like that book was right, Erza. We need to get Gray to a body of water. The harbor will be our best bet" Lucy said assuredly. Erza looked to the boys and pulled out the book she had found in the basement of the guild. It was a light blue hardcover with a minimalistic picture of a faceless man wearing a suit. He was surrounded by the same mark Gray had seen earlier that day, getting a gasp out of Gray. Natsu took note of this and held him the smallest bit closer.

"What did you find out?" Natsu asked urgently. Erza spoke, looking directly to Gray.

"Gray, we found out how Trackers capture the wizards they're hunting. They use paralysis spells and their senses act a lot like radar as Mira mentioned earlier. It's a lose-lose situation if one targets you. It sounds like you four already figured that bit out." Gray gave a slight nod at this, wanting her to continue.

"We also found out that Trackers are categorized based on the type of wizards they hunt. The Tracker you, unfortunately, ran into is an Ice Tracker, which means you're the only thing he's here for." Gray's eyes went wide at this. It all made sense now. The temperature drop he couldn't feel, and him being the only one affected by the vines Lucy investigated. They had walked right into a trap.

"Good news is, Ice Trackers can't fight in water. If they enter a body of water, it will freeze their heart and kill them." Gray looked up at this and smirked.

"But, who do we know that _can_ fight in the water?" Lucy and Erza looked at one another, smug looks on both.

"We've already got Jet and Droy heading to Juvia's house to get her here. She should be able to wipe the floor with him no problem."

As they approached the front door they could see Gajeel and Levy heading up to the front entrance of the guildhall.

"Hey, guys!" Levy shouted with a wave. Gajeel waving by her side as well. Natsu and his team were relieved to see the others unharmed. As they ran up to them Levy looked to Lucy to catch up on what she had missed.

"Lucy, what's going on? Have you guys got any updates?" She asked, worry present on her face. Lucy and her teammates nodded with determination.

"We'll explain on the way, but we need to get Gray to the Harbor as fast as we can! Think you guys good to help out a bit more?" Gajeel smirked, crossing his arms.

"There's no we'd miss out on the action, Blondie." Lucy and the others beamed at this.

They made their way out of the guild and headed for the Harbor. As they ran out of Fairy Tail, Gray looked over Natsu's shoulder, thinking to himself.

"_Why have I got such a bad feeling about all of this?" _

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Review and leave your thoughts, thanks.


	4. Chapter 4: Just In The Knick Of Time

It was almost midnight by now, and the sky was dark as clouds rolled by in the starry sky. As Natsu and his crew made their way to the harbor, a man watched from above. Seated atop the guildhall was a long-haired man in a black suit. Hidden by the shadows, his smirk went unnoticed by the Fairy Tail members on the ground.

"What clever kids they are." The man observed, clearly amused by their actions. Hands in his pockets, he pulled his right hand out to look at the time.

"Ah, almost midnight. I should be going." With that, static appeared in place of the man as he faded away as he returned to his world, his plan unfolding into the next phase.

Back on the ground, Gray suddenly felt a pressure at his sternum and gave a gasp. All of a sudden, his whole body felt like the warmth had returned to it. Grabbing his chest in one hand and grabbing a fistful of Natsu's scarf in the other.

"Natsu, down! Now!" Gray yelled in a panic. The group immediately stopped and ran back to the duo as Natsu put him gently on the ground.

"Gray, are you hurt? Talk to me man, c'mon." Natsu encouraged while rubbing Gray's back. He was very worried about the ice mage and was struggling to hide that. Gray looked around, with what seemed to be paranoia in his eyes. All team members eyes on the two boys, unsure of what was happening. He took and breath and looked up to Natsu.

"Help me up." Natsu raised his brows in confusion at this but did so anyway. Gray kept his left arm around the back of Natsu's neck. After a moment, Gray gave the pink-haired helper a smile and a nod, and they stood together. He looked to the ground, at his arms, over both of his shoulders, trying to check himself over to see what had changed. He slowly went to let go of Natsu to try and stand on his own, while Natsu quickly reached out with his other hand to hold Gray's. Gray's face showing shock at first melted into gratitude.

"I'm okay," Gray said and looked to the rest of his team. "I'm really not sure what changed, but I can move again. The paralysis feels like it's gone." The others around him looking just as confused as he was, Natsu's face still heavy with concern regardless of his friend's affirmations.

"Are you sure? Why did you grab your chest the way you did?" Natsu asked quickly. Gray looked down in thought before speaking.

"I felt pressure there, and then my whole body felt warm again. It was weird, I'm not sure how to explain it, but I feel like normal now." He thought aloud. Erza and the others looked at each other, herself deciding to break the silence.

"Alright, as long as nobody is hurt, we'll return to the guildhall and resume our scheduled watches. Except, this time we'll sleep in a room without windows." Lucy giving a firm nod at the redhead's comment. Gray and the others agreed, all involved being thoroughly exhausted from the evening. Gray went to walk away from Natsu, but felt a tug at the back of his shirt and looked back at the fire mage.

"At least let me carry you back, just to be safe," Natsu asked quietly. Gray smiled at the boy.

"I'm okay Natsu, you don't need to worry. Maybe walking will be good for me to work anything that's left out of my system." Natsu hadn't thought about that since they left Gramp's office, the look on his face making Gray chuckle a bit. He turned to go walk with the rest of their team, tipping his head in toward them while looking back at his friend.

"We can walk together if that will put you more at ease, though." Natsu smiled at this, happy he could still help Gray. The two boys made their way back to the rest of their team, Lucy smiling at them as they caught up.

"_They may be rivals, but at the end of the day, they'd take care of each other no matter what." _The Celestial mage thought. Gray and Natsu together were one of a kind.

The team made their way back to the guildhall to find Jet, Droy, and Juvia waiting nervously for them. Upon their arrival, the three ran up to the returning guild members ecstatically. Jet and Droy calling out to Levy and Juvia throwing herself onto Gray.

"Gray, Gray! My beloved Gray! Are you alright, my love? Are you hurt?" She cooed, checking him over for any more harm. Gray nervously backed away from the frantic blunette, eyeing Natsu and his team for help.

"No, it's fine Juvia, I'm okay. We dealt with the issue." As soon as he said that, he realized that they really hadn't. Erza giving him a look that read exactly what he was thinking, he knew she didn't agree with him. He didn't want Juvia all over him for the rest of the night though, he'd rather take a hike through a desert and back. Juvia patted his arm and smiled at him.

"Alright, as long as you're sure. If everything is alright, I will be returning to my home for the rest of the night. Please get some rest, Gray?" She looked up to him. He gave a nod in response. As much as she could be a lot some days, she was very considerate of his well-being. He reminded himself to thank her in the morning.

With that, Juvia returned to her home while the four folks returned to their corners of the guild to keep watch until morning. Gray and his team returned to the infirmary, but he stopped a few steps short of the door. Lucy turned to him, noticing the abrupt halt.

"Gray, what's the matter?" Gray's face read more disbelief than anything. Lucy followed his eyes, the same look quickly appearing on her face.

"Oh yeah...I forgot...I destroyed the window." She squeaked nervously as they all took note of the gaping hole in the wall. That gaping hole also happened to be right next to Gray's bed. Gray took an obnoxiously loud breath in through his nose and placed his hands on his hips.

"Since Lucy broke the infirmary, we're sleeping at Lucy's house!" He hollered, turning around and pointing out of the guild as he made his way out. He gave Lucy an evil smirk. "Hope you have sleeping bags, blondie." Lucy was yelling at Gray and he chuckled and started to walk towards the front entrance.

Erza was shocked and tried to tell Gray to get back to bed, still attempting to follow the master's orders. Natsu was hot on their heels, laughing hysterically at Gray's reaction to the room, and quickly had the other two giggling as well. Erza looked at the three down the stairs with a motherly look on her face. With a smile, she shook her head and jogged to catch up with her friends.

Once at Lucy's house, they all slept on the floor with each other (Lucy luckily had enough blankets and pillows for her entire team). They made a bowl of popcorn and stayed up almost all night telling stories and laughing together.

When the morning finally rolled around and a bed-head ridden Lucy woke up first, she looked to the alarm clock on her side table to read "12:18 PM" She blanked for a minute, processing just how late they had managed to sleep in, and finally shrieked.

"Guys wake up! _Master Makarov is going to kill us!_" She screeched into her teammate's ears, blowing their blankets and pillows across her apartment. Grey and Erza shot up out of bed, Happy flew into a wall at lightning speed from Lucy scaring him, and Natsu simply rolled back over just to continue snoring. Gray went over to Natsu, irritated. He put his hands together in preparation to cast a spell.

"Ice Make, Hammer!" with a hammer appearing he brought it down on top of Natsu. When the ice made hammer disappeared Natsu could be seen on the ground with swirls for eyes. After a few seconds, he gained his signature glare and jumped up into Gray's face.

"What the hell was that for?!" He pushed his forehead into Gray's as his rival pushed back.

"You were bein' a bum and wouldn't get your ass outta bed! How did you sleep through Lucy screaming like that anyway?!" While the boys argued in the middle of her apartment, Lucy and Erza had begun their morning routine. The two girls couldn't help but giggle in the bathroom together.

"I can't believe them, after everything that happened yesterday to watching them now, it's like someone just erased the whole day. They don't even seem phased by it." Erza laughed in response, reequipping into her standard outfit.

"Yup, that's our boys alright. I guess it isn't such a bad thing though, Natsu doesn't seem as anxious and Gray clearly feels a lot better." She observed gladly. Lucy nodded in agreement while brushing her teeth. Once the girls had finished getting ready, they went out to see the boys had changed and were cleaning up the living room.

"Hey, thanks, guys!" Smiling at the two boys. Lucy quickly put a hand up shielding her mouth from them and muttered to Erza.

"I think this is the first time I've ever seen them clean." Erza firmly nodded in agreement.

"I think you might be onto something, Lucy." Gray and Natsu now standing by the two, both scowling at the girls.

"We can still hear you." They grumbled in annoyance, Erza and Lucy giggling at their friends.

With the apartment cleaned up, the four of them left and made their way back to the guildhall. Once they returned everyone was shocked to see them out of the infirmary but were more relieved that they were unharmed. They received some eager waves from the friends that had helped them last night before they all left. Levy and Gajeel came up to them and made conversation for a few moments before the Master came down the stairs towards Gray. Gray noticed and gulped nervously. He wiggled his way out of the group and over to Makarov, expecting some sort of punishment or scolding.

"Gray young man, what did I tell you? Why were you four not here when I arrived this morning?" The Master asked, unimpressed as his team gathered with him. Gray looked off to the side for a second before meeting the Master's Eyes. He and his teammates explained everything that happened, reluctantly noting the window Lucy had broken. Makarov was shocked by this.

"Lucy, you're spending way too much time with that Dragon Slayer of yours." Makarov sighed in defeat while Lucy chuckled nervously.

"Sorry Master Makarov," she trailed off, hoping she wouldn't have to pay to fix it. Master Makarov regained his composure and looked to Erza.

"So, you're telling me the Tracker could be gone as of right now?" Erza nodded firmly. "That seems to be the case Master. After we left the guildhall, the paralysis that had started in the middle of the night suddenly vanished, we've yet to figure out why though." The Master closed his eyes in thought for a moment. He looked back up to the four.

"Alright, this is good to know. I'll be sure to contact the magic council and give them an update of last night's events. In the meantime, I'm sure you'll be glad to hear that they've sent Rune Knights to keep watch over the town." The four members each showed signs of relief at the news.

"They'll be here for the next week or so, so you won't need to worry about the town or anything like that. I think it might do you some good to go on a job request together." The Master suggested, they all perked up at the idea of doing a job together. Gray turned to his teammates.

"I think Gramps has a point, do you guys want to go find one to do tomorrow?" He asked, his team immediately agreeing.

"As long as you've got the green light to go with that injury on your side Gray I think a job would be an excellent idea." Erza agreed. Lucy, Happy, and Natsu agreed ecstatically. Gray had almost forgotten about his injury from yesterday. He looked down and gently patted his side a few times.

"I'll ask Mira to look at it before I head home tonight, thanks Erza." The two teammates smiled at each other, looking to the side to realize the rest of their team had run off to have lunch and run around the guildhall together. Gray laughed and Erza looked over at him.

"It's so weird to think about everything that happened yesterday, and yet here we are, goofing around like everything's normal." He stayed looking ahead, his smiling leaving his features. "Do you think we're rid of that freak from yesterday?"

"Honestly, I can't say anything for certain yet. We need to be ready for anything though, so we should keep our guard up." She glanced in his direction as she finished her sentence. Gray looked to meet her eyes and nodded. Master Makarov cleared his throat behind the two, drawing their attention once again.

"Do be careful, Gray. Trackers are very tricky, and they are _very_ smart." The emphasis he put on their intelligence worried Gray. He thought of the previous night and the odd things that had happened. But for everything to stop cold, it didn't make any sense to him. Gray had questions now, he figured he might as well ask them.

"Gramps, what else do you know about these things? Like, where they live, what they are, is there anything else you can tell us?" the look on Erza's face implied that she wanted more information, too. Makarov hummed as he closed his eyes in thought. The two mages each grabbed a seat nearby waiting for him to explain.

"Trackers live in another realm, separate from ours. Their home is called, 'The Kingdom of Stardell,' and is actually a very beautiful place." The Master smiled as he said this, gaining surprised looks from Erza and Gray. The Master hopped down from the counter, indicating the two wizards to follow him. They hopped out of their seat, hot on Makarov's heels.

"As a matter of fact, Trackers didn't always hunt wizards. Wizards and Trackers long ago used to work together, keeping both of our worlds in balance. This was a very long time ago, and Fiore was exponentially smaller than it is now. The King of Fiore and the Queen of Stardell had come to an agreement regarding an alliance between our worlds. While they were alive they became very close friends. They vowed to protect the opposing kingdoms and their people like they would their own." Gray and Erza were very interested, not making a sound as the Master made his way to the basement to show them some books similar to the one Erza had dug up.

"Because of this alliance, people could travel in between these worlds to help with various job requests, to visit the kingdoms, or for other various reasons." A grim look appeared on the Master's face as he continued.

"One day an S-Class wizard from Fiore took a job request by himself in Stardell. The mission was only to retrieve the stolen goods from a group of bandits and return them a family. No one knows why, but the wizard from Fiore lost control of himself and killed an entire group of bandits." Gray and Erza audibly gasped at this.

"Life was very sacred to the people of Stardell. They believed that for every star in the sky of their kingdom was the life of one of their people. They never killed, no matter how harshly someone may deserve punishment. They had vowed never to go to such measures under any circumstance."

"When the news began to spread about the wizard who killed their people, the Queen personally expelled him and all people of Fiore from her kingdom, never to return again. The King of Fiore was devastated to hear this, and tried to expel this wizard from his kingdom." The Master had stopped in front of one of the bookshelves in the basement, leaning down to grab some books from the bottom shelf.

"The S-Class mage did not take this news well and killed the king of Fiore for revenge against Stardell. Many lives were lost before the mage was stopped. A messenger was sent to Stardell to tell the Queen what had come of her friend, and she was beyond heartbroken. Though stories say they were friends, many who know the history of Stardell believe she loved the king with all her heart. When she found out he was dead, it crushed her. She was so grief-stricken, her heart and soul turned to solid ice, killing her." Gray and Erza were sad just hearing this story. It must have been heart-wrenching to lose someone you loved like that, without even getting to say goodbye.

"The people of Stardell swore they would bring the same fate to all wizards that they brought to their Queen. War broke out until the Magic Council could finally banish them from our world, severing the connection between us, ensuring they could never return. The people of Stardell who still seek revenge labeled themselves "Trackers" and have tried to find a way back here for centuries." Gray was confused at Makarov's last statement.

"But Gramps, I thought you said the Magic Council banished them away decades ago, not centuries." Makarov blanked for a second before he let out a hearty laugh.

"Oh dear, I must have misspoken. The Trackers have been gone from our world for hundreds of years now." Gray and Erza were even more shocked to hear this. The shock quickly left them as they resumed their questions.

"Master, if they've been gone for hundreds of years, why are they popping up all of a sudden? Why now?" Erza asked. The Master sighed, flipping through a book he had picked up.

"That's the question we've all got, Erza. The Magic Council was just as startled when I told them the news as I was when Gray described the man he ran into yesterday. They're in the process of resealing the gate that used to connect our worlds. Their guess is that the seal must have worn down over all this time, allowing a tracker to sneak through. They're working on it as we speak. Ah–here we go!" The Master hollered, catching the two young wizards off guard. Master Makarov turned to them, book open wide showing them a picture. The two gaped in awe at the beauty of the artwork in front of them.

"This is a very old sketch of a portion of the kingdom. Beautiful, isn't it?" He asked the two.

On the page was just a portion of a massive, white castle. The castle itself looked like it was made of marble, with pastel yellow roofing. There was greenery all around the building. Flowers, trees, vines, it looked like mother nature crafted it with her own two hands. The two couldn't help but stand there, stunned that such horrible creatures could come from such a beautiful home.

"Does the world still look like that now, Gramps?" Gray asked, even more curious now than he was before. He and Erza held the book together and examined all of the minute details of the picture.

"I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that. No one has been back there since the Queen died and the pathway between the two worlds was destroyed. All we can do is hope that their people are doing well and that a good King or Queen claimed the throne after her passing." Makarov said with a hint of melancholy. He turned away from them and looked at the bookshelf before them.

"There are plenty of books down here that can answer the majority of the questions hopping around in your heads, I'm sure. Feel free to take these home and read up about them, a little history lesson never hurt anybody." the Master said with a smile that reached his eyes, and holding his index finger on one hand. The two wizards looked up, almost excitedly.

"Thanks, Master!" they yelled ecstatically. Along with the brown and gold book Erza and Gray had been holding that had the sketch, Gray grabbed one small, dark red book that had silver linings on its pages. Erza grabbed a light green book that was a bit larger and had leaves and trees embroidered on the hard front cover. They looked at Master Makarov indicating they were ready to head back up to the guild.

The three made their way upstairs, and Erza and Gray went to put the books in their respective bags. Erza recommended Gray take the brown and gold book from Makarov because he was more in need of it than she was. He was grateful for the consideration from her.

One they put their things away, they noticed how long they had been speaking with Makarov. It was roughly dinner time, so they met back up with Natsu, Lucy, and Happy to eat together.

"Hey, guys! Where've you been all day? We turned around and you were gone!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Did you guys talk more with Master Makarov?" Lucy inquired, tilting her head curiously. Happy stood on the table and did the same, only with a small fish in his mouth. Gray and Erza nodded in response.

"We talked to Gramps about Trackers a bit more, and found out he had a couple of books about them downstairs. We're going to read up on them a bit tonight to see if there's anything else we can figure out." Gray said. Erza continued the thought before he could speak again.

"If anything, the Master emphasized to Gray that Trackers are extremely intelligent. Getting more background will be helpful so we can try to predict their plans and how to stop them." The party agreed. Last night ended so abruptly, they didn't have a lot to go off of, so making a plan would be rather difficult. Depending on how far Gray and Erza got tonight with the three books, they probably wouldn't go on a quest tomorrow.

Once the five of them wrapped up their conversation and finished their meals, each of them got ready to go home. As Gray was headed out he heard some of his teammates call out to him. He jumped a bit and turned around to see them all catching up with him.

"Hey, today was fine, but at least let us walk you, home man," Natsu suggested with a grin. Lucy, Happy and Erza were all in agreement, and Gray laughed sheepishly.

"Thank you, guys." Hands in his coat pockets, the team left the guild, waving goodbye to their friends for the evening. Makarov giving Gray an assuring smile as they left, helping Gray calm the anxiety that was building in his stomach. They walked through the streets of Magnolia, Lucy being the first to part ways with the group.

"See you guys tomorrow!" She hollered with a wave, closing her front door.

Next to head home was Erza. She ruffled the hair of her two boys and hugged each of them goodnight. She gave Gray a stern look as she parted ways.

"If anything happens, you know where to find me and the others. Don't hesitate to get help, alright?" Gray was caught a bit off guard at this but knew where she was coming from. He knew Erza was well aware of his stubbornness in reaching out to his friends for help. It wasn't his strong suit, but he promised her he would come to them if anything happened. With that, she headed inside.

Walking up to Gray's apartment building, he and Natsu got ready to part ways for the night. Gray went to say goodbye to him and could see the uneasiness on Natsu's face. Gray's brows furrowed as he spoke.

"You're nervous somethings going to happen tonight, aren't you?" He asked quietly. Natsu scowled and gave an upset 'hmph!' and turned his head over his shoulder. Getting a laugh out of Gray, the dark-haired boy walked up to his best friend and put a hand on his shoulder. Natsu looked at him with a smile and did the same on his opposite side.

"I promise I'm going to be fine, okay? We can walk to the guild tomorrow and meet Lucy and Erza on our way. Maybe we'll even stop for breakfast somewhere. Does that sound like a plan, Natsu?" Gray proposed, Natsu's typical goofy grin reappearing on his face as he laughed.

"Hell yeah, it does!" He smiled at the ice mage and became serious for the last time that night. He pulled Gray into him, hugging his friend tightly. Gray was taken aback by this but wrapped his arms around the fire mage. He knew Natsu was worried, he had every right to be.

"Just promise me you'll be here tomorrow, Gray." Gray rested his chin on the fire mage's shoulder, tipping his head against Natsu's.

"I promise, I'm not going anywhere, bud." He could feel Natsu smile, and they separated. Sappy moments were far and few between in their friendship, but the few moments they had were meaningful to both of them. Natsu regained his cocky smile, arms crossed as he huffed out his chest.

"Besides, _I_ have to kick your butt in a fight tomorrow anyways!" Gray scoffed playfully and turned to his apartments front door.

"In your dreams, flame-brain!" He yelled. Natsu laughed and gave a wave as he and Happy turned to leave. Gray smiled as he stood there for a second, and proceeded to unlock his front door and go inside.

He opened the door and locked it behind him. Handle, deadbolt, and chain tonight. He was thankful to be living in an older unit that had these built-in when he moved here, they were finally coming in handy. He turned to kick his shoes off at the door and made his way into his home. He walked down the hallway that led to his combined living room and kitchen. He dropped his wallet and keys on the granite-topped island counter and brought his messenger bag up as well. Afterward, he went into his room to change.

The ice mage was generally not a very messy person. He liked to have a cleaner living space, figuring it was easier to clean up as he went rather than letting a mess build up. He threw off his clothes from the day and reentered his kitchen in a pair of black shorts and an orange t-shirt. Yes, the ice mage was known for his stripping tendencies, but he only wore his boxers when he went to sleep. He would rather have some clothes on if someone ever came over without a heads up.

Gray returned to his kitchen to start reading the books Makarov had given him. He grabbed his bag and the books Makarov had given him and made his way to his living room. Before he sat down, he decided to close the curtains to make sure no one was peeking up at his apartment from the walkway. He visibly shuddered at the thought of looking out the window and just seeing the Tracker standing there. Shaking his head and still holding the curtains, he sighed.

"Man, that damn Tracker is getting to my head again. I've got to calm down, I'm not going to be able to focus on these books if I don't." He thought out loud. He tried to think of his teammates and took a minute to focus on his breathing. As he went to close the curtains and turn around, a second voice spoke up.

"They aren't getting in your head, but they _did_ get into your apartment!" Gray's blood ran colder than he thought possible. He was caught off guard and couldn't turn around quick enough before two vines flew forward and ripped his hands away from the window. The vines drew his forearms flat against his back, keeping his hands away from each other. He was pulled to the ground and landed with a harsh _thump_. He grunted, trying to get up, only to be pulled back down again.

The Tracker behind him let out a quiet chuckle before holding his finger up and swiping his index finger in toward himself, causing the vines to throw Gray backward at lightning speed. He crashed into his refrigerator and slid to the ground. Seeing stars, he tried his best to sit up straight and open his eyes. His head was throbbing already. Definitely _not_ a good sign. Gray glared up to his captor. He took note of the man's appearance suddenly realizing it was not the same person from the other day.

The man in front of him was tall and had spiky dark green hair. His eyes were a deep navy blue shade, and his facial features were very angular and pointed. He wore a dark green cloak that reached a bit past his waistline with a bronze-colored tank top underneath. His shirt tucked into a pair of baggy beige pants that stopped below his knees. He wore a pair of black flip flops for shoes. Gray realized how insanely similar his outfit looked to Natsu's.

"What the hell do you want? How did you get into my house?!" He snarled.

"Aww, that's no way to make a first impression on someone. Where'd you learn your manners!" He yelled throwing Gray across the room and into the edge of a wall. Gray let out a pained yelp and fell to the ground. Gritting his teeth, he looked up at the man again, reluctant to speak after seeing the response he got. The man smirked sickly and walked over to Gray, kneeling down in front of him, laughing in Gray's face.

"Ready to be nice now, _princess_?" He growled, venom dripping from every word. He grabbed Gray's chin as he spoke, forcing the ice mage to look into his eyes.

"Who are you?" Gray asked, his voice wavering from the pain of being thrown again. The man smirked and dropped Gray's chin, turning to take a seat on the closer of the two couches in his living room. He sat back, looking comfortable and gave a loud and content sigh, kicking his feet up on the coffee table.

"Sweet place you got here! It's a shame you won't get to enjoy it much longer." The green-haired man said with a shrug, putting his hands behind his head. Grey felt a panicked knot grow in his stomach. He tried to sit up, only to cry out in pain again.

"_Damn, how hard did this freak throw me? I can't even sit up right now, let alone fight him. I have got to get someone's attention, I have to get away from him."_ Gray fell back to the ground, grinding his teeth to hold in any groans from how badly his side hurt. The man on his sofa let out a chuckle, taking his feet off the table he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, looking down at Gray.

"Oh I'd be careful sweetheart, being thrown into the corner of a wall isn't exactly what doctors recommend to keep your ribs in good health." He grinned as a shocked look appeared in Gray's face. Gray scoffed at him, looking devilish as he spoke.

"Wow, you Tracker freaks all fight like cowards, huh?" Gray growled back.

The man on the couch lost his smile and glared down at the dark-haired boy. He stood from his seat and walked over to Gray, picking him up by the collar of his shirt. He smirked at the boy before slamming his head back into the wall and bringing Gray forward immediately to ram his knee into his stomach. With a harsh hack, all of the air left Gray's lungs in an instant. Gray squeezed his eyes shut from the pain of both blows. The man dropped him again and turned back around to sit.

"You done yet, kitty cat? Man, Lockson wasn't kidding when he said you were a feisty one." Gray looked up at the man, one eye shut tight as he tried to speak.

"L-Lock...son?" He struggled to breathe, let alone speak. The man looked a bit surprised and continued.

"Ah, you didn't catch ice boys name, huh? Scurried off too quick, how rude." He shrugged. What the hell was with this guy and manners?

"Lockson was the tracker you ran into the other day and the one who sent me to come find you. I'm Rexile." He looked smug as hell, and Gray hated it. You know, I've got to admit, you and your little lackeys are actually pretty clever. Watching you figure out Lockson's plan was almost cute." Gray growled at the man and gritted his teeth. If his hands weren't tied behind his back, he'd have this chump eating his words a million times over. The man grinned and wagged a finger in his face.

"Ah-ah-ah-ah, we don't want to have to break the rest of your ribs, do we now?" He grinned sickly. Vines appeared and picked Gray up off the floor just enough to show the ice wizard he was serious. Gray looked at him, and in defeat, tried to relax to show him he would finally shut up. The Tracker grinned and lowered the boy to the ground. He came forward and knelt in front of Gray's face again, an investigative look on his features. He gave a quick "hm," and went into his kitchen with a smirk on his face. Beginning to rummage through drawers, he saw Rexile pull a pen and notepad out of a drawer. Gray's eyes widened when he realized the man was going to leave a note behind, making people think we left on his own accord. What if he sent his friends somewhere and it was a trap?! He had to do something–_now_.

Quietly, he tried to use his magic to freeze his living room window. Focusing through the pain, he saw the window start to freeze over. Gray focused all of his energy into the center of the window and watched satisfyingly as it started to crack. He looked back to see the man still writing and humming at the counter, and even going through Gray's other belongings.

"Oh, wow! You've got great taste in fine china, kid." Gray rolled his eyes and looked back to the window.

"_Good,"_ he thought. "_That'll buy me some time."_ He silently started to scoot closer to the window, trying to get close enough so he could shatter it. He checked his over his shoulder again and sat up. He could feel the blood in his mouth from how hard he was biting his lip, but he managed to sit up and lean against the wall underneath the window. He looked up and focused at the crack in the center of the window and gathered enough magic.

"_Now!"_ He thought forcefully, and the window blew into a million tiny pieces. Rexile jumped, surprised by the crash. He turned around a second too late as Gray gathered all the air he could, to scream the closest person's name he could think of.

"NATSU!" He screeched, putting everything he had into the shout. As soon as the name left his mouth Gray felt vines creep up behind him and wrap around his mouth painfully. He sat against the wall, trying to catch his breath. Rexile looked frantic as he ran back over to Gray. Gray heard him swearing to himself as he hoisted the ice-mage up bridal style. Gray immediately fought him, thrashing around and kicking as much as he could. His legs were quickly wrapped up at his knees and ankles, preventing much more struggling. The dark-haired mage looked down at him and sighed.

"You are such a pain in the ass, kid. This better be worth the pay when we get back to Stardell." Gray heard the name of the kingdom Gramps had told him and Erza about. If they went there, he wouldn't be able to get home.

"_Mmph–!"_ He hollered at the window through the vines covering his mouth.

"_Dammit Natsu, hurry! Where are you?" _Gray thought frantically.

Natsu and Happy were walking down the path to their home, silence between the two knuckleheads. Some time had passed since they had parted ways with Gray and neither had said a word since. Happy was the one who decided to break the silence.

"You're really worried about Gray, aren't you Natsu? He asked sadly. Natsu sighed. Happy flew up to Natsu and curled up in his arms, the dragon slayer gently rubbing his head.

"It's hard not to be, we have no idea what these things are. I know he can handle himself, but seeing him come in yesterday and just collapsing the way he did has had me worried like crazy ever since! And I never worry about stuff like this, I don't know why this is any different." He thought out loud to the small cat in his arms. Something had felt weird all day, he assumed it was the nerves from yesterday's events and last night, but figured that would have subsided by now. He stopped and looked at the ground, scowling ever so slightly. Happy looked at the pink-haired mage unable to figure out what might be going through his brain. As Natsu went to take another step, he felt something in the air shift. He heard something, no, some_one._

He Heard a scream–_Gray's _scream_._

Eyes going wide, he spun around on his heel and sprinted back to Gray's apartment. Happy immediately flew into the air when Natsu started sprinting. Natsu looked at him and yelled.

"Happy, go find Erza and Lucy, get them here as fast as you can!" Happy nodded and flung himself toward the homes of their friends with all his might.

Gray remained looking out the window, _praying_ that Natsu would show up just in the knick of time. He heard what sounded like a breeze behind him and turned his head to face where Rexile was looking. Tears welled up in his eyes as he saw a portal appear in his living room.

Natsu wasn't going to make it in time.

He was about to be kidnapped.

He would never see Fairy Tail again.

"Aw, quit your whining." Rexile grabbed Gray's face and whispered vehemently into his ear. "We're only going to keep you there _forever_."

Gray gave one final scream as the Tracker moved towards the portal when the sudden and familiar scent of charcoal hit him like a brick. Tears streamed down his face as he had never been so relieved to see Natsu Dragneel fly into his house in his entire life.

"Hey, _shithead_." Natsu snapped at the man holding Gray. Rexile flipped around. What Natsu saw made his blood boil. Gray was beaten, bruised, and tied up, trapped in the freak's arms. Fire already appearing and radiating off of his fists, veins popping out on his forehead. Rexile smirked maliciously.

"Aw, the little dragons come out to play, huh? Oh, did I take something of yours?" He grabbed Gray's chin and brought his mouth right up to Gray's ear when he spoke. Gray mumbled something at Natsu, tears in his eyes as he tried to pull away from the man. That was the moment Natsu snapped. His entire body going up in flames, he let out a threatening roar. Gray's eyes widened, he had _never_ heard Natsu roar like that before.

"Fine, you wanna dance, hot head? We can dance." Rexile summoned another vine that grabbed Gray and threw him back into the granite-topped island behind them. Gray let out a cry, he was sure something else had broken this time. Unable to move, all Gray Fullbuster could do was lie there and put his hope in Natsu.

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Review and leave your thoughts, thanks.


	5. Chapter 5: Endeavor To Stardell

Natsu watched Gray fly backward into the island in front of him. A disgusting crack was heard on impact as Gray grunted and fell to the floor. Natsu was furious to see his best friend thrown around like some stupid ragdoll. Natsu let out a deep growl and looked Rexile in the eyes.

"I'm giving you one chance to leave this place and never come back." It was more of a threat than a warning. A threat that would have sent any sane man running with his tail between his legs. Rexile simply scoffed.

"Seeing you try to protect your buddy back here is cute and all, but I'm afraid I can't leave without the boy." Rexile suddenly glared at Natsu. "He is a vital part of our operation, we cannot lose him. Now now." Natsu clenched his fists at this, growling and lowering his head. The flames that radiated off of his body doubled in intensity. Rexile crouched into a battle stance.

"Let's dance, _lover boy_." Gray had lifted his head in time to see Natsu charge Rexile, but the green-haired man darted out of the way and out of the apartment through the broken window. Natsu glared at him, stopping to give a glance at Gray over his shoulder. The boys nodded at each other, Gray giving his silent blessing for Natsu to go beat Rexile's ass. Natsu grinned and put a fist to his chest.

"I've got your back Gray, no matter what." He raced toward the window and flew outside. Gray lowered his head to the ground and tried to focus on his breathing, remembering how much pain he had been in before.

"_Dammit, Natsu. You'd better be careful out there._" He shut his eyes and hoped for the best for his dragon slayer. Quietly, so quiet that Gray didn't hear him, another man appeared behind him. The man had tanner skin and dark red hair. The same shade as the marking each tracker had on their cheeks.

"Well, now that Rexile is gone," Gray flinched and looked over his shoulder as best he could, wincing at his injuries. The man's voice was much deeper than the other two, and he was much bigger as well. He was about the same height but had more muscle than the two twigs he'd run into so far. The man looked down at him, disappointment was written all over his face. He leaned down to look at Gray as Gray pulled his face away from the man. The redhead looked sad and gave a sigh.

"My boy, what did that fool do to you?" He thought out loud. He placed a hand to Gray's cheek, Gray looking at the man with wide, cautious eyes. He was surprised when he suddenly felt warmth escape the man's hand, and green light radiated from his hand.

"_This reminds me of Wendy's magic. Why would he be healing me?"_ Gray looked at the man, his eyes demanding an explanation. His hand stopped radiating warmth just before he spoke.

"When Rexile and Lockson were sent here to find an ice mage I told them to bring the mage back unharmed. As you can see, neither of them decided to listen to me." He rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, clearly irritated with the two Trackers. Gray was so confused, he had never had an enemy talk like this in front of him. The man looked back at him.

"I need to put you to sleep, your injuries look pretty ugly, bud. I know you're not going to like it, but it's for the best." Gray hardly had any time to before a blue light radiated from the man's hand. Gray's eyes suddenly felt like dead weights. All he could do was let his head fall and rest in the palm of the man's hand. Quickly his world went black and his eyes slid shut in Magnolia for the last time.

He pulled his hand away and carefully laid Gray's head on the ground. He quickly healed Gray's shoulder and ribs. He needed to carry the boy and could not let him get hurt further. Once the green light from his hand faded away, he grabbed the vines covering Gray's mouth as they slowly faded from existence. Allowing Gray's mouth to fall open as his head lolled to the side. He let out a sigh of relief. Carefully, he picked up the boy. He carefully cradled Gray as he summoned a portal in front of them. He peered around his apartment one last time before he took Gray and walked through, the portal sealing itself and disappearing behind them.

Running from the other end of town were two familiar ladies and a bright blue cat flying between them. They were sprinting to Gray's home hoping that they could get there in time to save him. Happy had filled them in about Gray's call for Natsu and that Natsu had run back to his apartment building. They rounded a corner, putting Gray's home straight ahead of them as Erza started making a battle plan.

"Happy and Lucy, I want you to go get Gray and get as far away from here as possible. I'll go find Natsu and take out whatever Trackers are here.

"Yes, ma'am!" They shouted in unison. As the three members went to split off on their own missions, they heard an aggressive roar farther ahead from Gray's apartment. The three went still as an explosion followed suit. They gasped and looked up to see two figures, green and flaming orange fly up and out of the smoke, soaring through the sky in a heated battle.

"That's Natsu! The green thing must be the tracker that attacked Gray!" Happy exclaimed with a paw pointed toward the sky. Erza preparing for battle, she called back to Lucy.

"Lucy! Happy! Find Gray and get out of here!" She summoned her Black Wing Armor and raced to the sky to aid her fiery friend. Lucy jumped into the air and Happy grabbed her shirt, giving her a hand in jumping up to the second story window and into Gray's apartment.

The two hopped up and crouched down, scanning the area for traps and enemies. Lucy and Happy were both shocked at the damage that had been done. Ahead of them was Gray's kitchen. His refrigerator had been dented and was now leaking water onto the floor. There was a granite-topped island in the center of his kitchen. The entire length of the side facing them was cracked, and those cracks bled up into the top of the counter. The blonde wizard stood up and walked forward, seeing what more damage had been done.

To her left, she could see the corner of a wall was broken in. Walking closer, she saw pieces of wood scattered around the floor as if there were something slammed into it. She looked further for clues as her eyes scanned up and down the area of the collision. One spot with smudged red droplets stuck out to her.

"Happy, do you smell blood anywhere?" She asked peering over her left shoulder at the small blue cat. Happy turned around and sniffed the air. He gasped nervously and covered his nose.

"Oh no, I do Lucy!" The cat gave a shudder as Lucy scowled at the ground. She feared they may have been too late. They checked the rest of the rooms in the apartment to find nothing out of the ordinary. They reentered the living room as something yellow caught Lucy's eye. She walked into the kitchen and looked down at the note.

"_Went out to run some errands, be back tomorrow night. –Gray"_ Lucy wasn't born yesterday, she knew Gray didn't leave the note. She was a writer, so she took note of simple things like a person's pendmenship. The number of times she and Levy had worked on calligraphy at the guild together just for fun was a little embarrassing, to say the least. The note was sloppy and the sentences didn't stay on the lines of the paper.

All of this aside, Gray lived alone! Who the hell would he have been leaving a note for, the plants in his living room? Whoever left this was an idiot in her opinion, but she had a hunch she could use it for something back at the guild. She took the note and grabbed a knife from the block nearby and slid the note into a freezer bag. There might be more information on this that someone back at the guild could gather. She tucked it away into the back pocket of her shorts and turned back to Happy. The small blue cat was glaring around the living room. He must have picked up on something weird in there.

"Happy, did you find something?" He was quiet for a minute as he walked over to one of the couches in Gray's living room. He gave it one, two, three sniffs before hissing at it and stepping back. Lucy raised her brows and gasped, she had never seen Happy hiss before!

"Lucy, this couch smells ugly." He said crossing his arms and flying over to her. Lucy shaking off her surprise at his reaction, she pulled out the freezer bag containing the note she found and put it towards Happy.

"Does this smell like the couch?" She asked, Happy immediately hissing.

"It smells exactly the same! Whoever was here did a bad job of covering his tracks!" Happy said, crossing his paws and turning away from the note. Lucy chuckled at the suddenly sassy feline.

"Alright, if Gray isn't here, we need to regroup with Erza and Natsu and figure out a plan." Happy nodded. As the two went to leave, Happy hollered and flew back to the coffee table.

"Lucy, look! It's Gray's bag!" Lucy turned to see Happy holding a messenger bag that had been thrown aside and was beside the other sofa. There were two books that had fallen to the ground. She smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

"Good find, Happy! We should gather everything we can from here and bring it all back to the guild."

"Aye, ma'am!" Happy cheered. They put the note and the two books into Gray's bag before they checked the whole apartment for their friend one last time. The grief of Gray's disappearance hitting them both as they went to leave. Happy holding Lucy's legs looked up at her pleadingly.

"Lucy, Gray can't really be gone, can he? He wouldn't have let them get him…" Happy trailed off, beginning to cry. Lucy put on the messenger bag and picked up the blue cat, holding him close to her heart.

"Even if Gray _is_ gone," she began with a glance around the living room, "He sure as hell didn't let them take him without a fight." She knew the hard headed ice boy, and she knew he never went down without a fight. That being said, he also wasn't stupid. She examined the window again, a smirk crossing her face

"He definitely didn't give up without a fight, Happy. Check out the window." She pointed at the edges of the window to see frost slowly but surely melting away.

"He must have frozen the window and broke it when he screamed for Natsu. That means this guy was already in his apartment when he came home. He must have jumped Gray and cornered him when he wasn't looking." She deciphered out loud. Her and Happy both growled at the thought. What did Gray go through when their party had separated? Happy suddenly gave a feisty yell and threw his paws in the air.

"I'm gonna throw every fish in the world at these stupid tracker things!" The heated blue cat shouted. Lucy scoffed as the two made their way out of the window of the apartment.

"You'd think people would have learned _not_ to mess with our guild anymore, but hey, can't fix stupid." She said with a shrug. Happy responded with an "Aye, sir," In the same shrugging manner. With that, the two headed off toward the green and orange lights in the distance. They needed to help their friends now.

Natsu and Rexile were flying through the sky in an unending battle. Ezra had managed to get close enough by that point, but because they were fighting, she had a chance to gather information about their enemy. She watched his movements and how he dodged Natsu's attacks. That stuck out to her, he was staying on the defensive. Given, against an angry dragon slayer, that's probably what most wizards would have to do to make sure they lived. Suddenly, Rexile grabbed at Natsu's ankle with a vine and threw him down in a building below them. Erza gasped, her eyes immediately darting back to Rexile. He could have attacked Natsu again or at least prepared to, but all the man did was jump a few buildings away and waited for the dragon slayer. Erza scowled as she finally realized what was going on.

"_This was a distraction, he isn't attacking Natsu because he's stalling."_ She thought angrily to herself. As Natsu was about to get back up to attack him, Erza jumped into the fray from behind Rexile. In an instant, she swiped at him and knocked him off of the building, throwing him down into the river that flowed through their town. He quickly recovered, showing he had grabbed onto a building nearby. He was panting, the fatigue of battle clearly wearing him down. Erza flew forward at lightning speed, reequipping while she did so. Reappearing in her Heaven's Wheel Armor, she pinned the man to the wall by his clothing and held three swords to his neck. He gasped at the sudden change. Trying to hide his fear, he laughed at her.

"Welp, ya got me girly! I have to say, I'm impressed that a girl like you could pull this off." Panting as he spoke, trying to act as cocky as possible.

"What have you done with our friend?" She demanded. If looks could kill this man would have died long ago from the look in her eyes.

"What friend? I'm just passing by! No need to worry about me, I'm just–" he stopped cold and screamed. Erza had pressed one of her swords in his right hand and pinned it into the building behind him.

"Do not tempt me, I have no problem pinning you up and letting Natsu roast you like a shish kabob." The green-haired man shivered He hardly knew how he hadn't been killed by that fire breathing freak yet, but he didn't want to find out now. Erza spoke again.

"Now then, what have you done with the ice-mage Gray Fullbuster? I hope you can finally recognize I have no problem torturing you for answers." This was _very_ unlike Erza. Someone with such leadership skills and maintained a consistent sense of poise in all situations. You really had to cross a fine, fine line with her to end up where Rexile was right now.

"Or, I can bring you back to Fairy Tail and let the rest of my guild play with your mangled body. From what I've gathered Trackers don't seem to like Wizards very much," She grinned cockily at the now quaking man in front of her. She didn't need to look behind her to know Natsu, Lucy, and Happy were standing not far from them. She heard the spark of Natsu's flame start back up as he slowly approached the man.

"Erza, let me at him," Natsu growled. Erza smiled and backed away from the man, letting Natsu get right in his face. She knew Natsu had been listening to her and she knew he wasn't going to kill the man. Just scare him into talking.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk yet?" She teased. The man shaking as Natsu's whole body engulfed in flames inches from his face, he finally screamed.

"_I'LL TALK, I'LL TALK! JUST GET HIM AWAY!"_ He begged. Erza smirked.

"Natsu, knock him out." Without a moment's hesitation, Natsu's face forced Rexile's head back into the brick building behind them as his body fell slack. Natsu's flames died down as he turned and spoke to Erza.

"We're taking hin back to Fairy Tail, yeah?" Erza nodded, reequipping into her standard armor and royal blue skirt. Natsu dragged him by the hair as he and his team marched back to the guild. They could see splashes of orange and yellow in the distance, indicating they had been fighting all night; again.

It was a silent night back, and not to anyone's surprise, the Master and Mira were waiting for them at the bar inside. The Master looking furious, Erza looked at him for further instruction.

"Take him downstairs to the cells and lock him up. I'll be dealing with him later." Erza and her teammates said nothing as they dragged the still unconscious body behind them and into the basement. Once he was dealt with, they left to go back upstairs (not before Natsu could spit on the man before they left, though).

Master Makarov looked at the team and sighed, knowing full well that they had lost Gray during the night. He looked at Lucy and noticed the bag she had. Lucy stepped forward and pulled out its contents.

"Happy and I searched Gray's apartment. We didn't find him, but we found two books about Trackers that you had lent him and a random note on the countertop," Lucy grabbed the note that fit perfectly in the plastic bag. She handed it to the master as he looked it over.

"Happy said it smelled the same as the couches in Gray's apartment, so I figured someone here could get some clues off of it or something," She trailed off. The Master nodded at her.

"This is good to have my dear, thank you. Did you find anything else while you were there?" Lucy and Happy glanced at each other as she continued.

"Whoever took Gray didn't get him without a fight. There was extensive damage done to some appliances in his kitchen. There was a wall that was blown in a bit, and Happy and I found blood around that area. Based on what Happy smelled, we think this green guy here is responsible for attacking Gray."

"There was frost on the window too, Gray's pretty smart Master Makarov!" Happy exclaimed. The Master smirked at that, knowing full well how intelligent Gray was when he wanted to be.

"Yup, we figured out from finding frost on the window in his living room that he must have frozen it and broken it open. He yelled for Natsu and he and Happy went charging back. Not too long later, Happy came and got me and Erza. We sprinted back to the scene of the attack. I think that just about catches you up to speed with everything from last night." Lucy finished. Makarov looked to the ground in thought.

"I see," he said quietly. "Are any of you hurt?" The four members shaking their heads. Erza and Lucy looking at Natsu. He was a bit scratched up, but he would be just fine with how fast he could heal.

"You four should go home and actually get some rest this time. You've had a long couple of days. I will be in touch with the Magic Council about this at once." He turned and hopped down from the counter, ascending the stairs to his office. There was no time to waste to bring Gray back.

"_Who knows what could be happening to him over there," _Makarov thought worriedly to himself.

Natsu and his team at Mira's suggestion just went into the guild's infirmary and slept there for the day. All of them were physically, and as much as they tried to hide it, emotionally exhausted as well.

In Makarov's office, Makarov informed the council of last night's events. The council shocked to know that their Rune Knights hadn't helped, but even more distressed to hear a Fiore Wizard had been taken through to Stardell. Makarov spoke to them and gave them his plan to get Gray back home.

"_Makarov, you can't be serious! We've lost one wizard, it would be madness to send anymore over there–"_ with one look, the fool who'd interrupted Makarov shut up and took his seat.

"Last I checked, it was because of _your ignorance_ that these worlds were able to connect again _at all!"_ His voice boomed, startling each council member. They had never seen Makarov so furious. They went quiet before one of the members rose.

"Team Natsu and whoever else you deem worthy shall travel through the sacred channel to Stardell. When would you like them to depart, Makarov?" The other council members looked shocked but knew they had no choice. Makarov was going to go through them or he would find another way to get one of his children back. They knew this was the safest option for all wizards involved.

"As soon as they are rested and ready to leave. I would like you to travel to our guildhall and send them from here, so they return here with Gray as well." The Master ordered. The man nodded without argument.

"As you wish, sir. We will arrive at 11:00 PM tonight." With that, Makarov ended the call and stayed in his office doing research to refresh his memory of the opposing kingdom for the next few hours.

Natsu was the first to wake up for once. He was too restless to get much sleep, but he got enough for the time being. He threw his legs off the side of the bed and put his vest and shoes on and walked downstairs. Gajeel was the first to notice the quiet fire-mage and patted the seat next to him at the bar. Natsu slowly walked over and plopped himself down, before putting his arms on the counter and laying his face on them.

Gajeel said nothing as he gently put an arm on Natsu's back, rubbing his hand in circles to help calm the boy down. Gajeel knew how important Gray was to Natsu, and he knew the boy was just as heartbroken as he was furious for the loss of their guild.

Wendy, who had been with studying in the forest with Porlyusica for the last few days, immediately noticed Natsu and Gajeel at the bar. She hopped up from her seat and ran up to the two dragon slayers. She ran up to Natsu and threw her arms around him, pushing her face into his side. She knew Gray had been taken, the whole guild had been talking about it all day.

"N-natsu, I'm sorry I wasn't here to help keep Gray safe," she trailed off in tears. Gajeel looked down at the little girl and turned to the two. He moved his right hand to Wendy's back and gently ran his left hand through Natsu's hair. Natsu lifted his head up from his arms and rested his chin on them instead, looking over to Wendy. He smiled at her and Gajeel, grateful for their support.

"Don't beat yourself up kiddo, you didn't do anything wrong." He went to sit up as Wendy threw her arms around his neck and cried. Natsu and Gajeel felt so much love for the young dragon slayer in front of them, it broke their heart to hear her cry. Natsu wrapped his arms around her and held her in a brotherly hug to help calm her down. Once her sniffling subsided, he stood and put her back on the ground.

"Feel a little bit better?" he asked quietly. Wendy went to speak and gave a small gasp when she looked up to see tears in both Gajeel and Natsu's eyes.

"We're bringing Gray home, kiddo," Gajeel patted Wendy's head. He and Natsu each wiped a tear from their eyes. "In the wise words of an ice mage we know, "Fairy Tail gets revenge." The three dragon slayers grinned at each other, a newfound fire to save their friend.

"That's right we do! Nobody hurts our family and gets away with it!" Natsu hollered, throwing his fist into his opposite hand, flames appearing for a second on impact.

"You're right about that Natsu!" Wendy nodded in agreement with her hands placed confidently on her hips. The three dragon slayers hardly noticed the looks the rest of the guild members were giving them. Smiling at the three, each member of that guild was set on rescuing their friend no matter what. All the guild members feeling just as fired up as their resident dragon slayers all threw their fists high in the air.

"_Nobody messes with Fairy Tail!"_ they cried out in unison. The startled dragon slayers quickly felt smiles cross their features. Gray was going to come home, they were sure of that. Upon the top of the staircase Master Makarov, Lucy, Happy, and Erza smiled down at the ruckus. The rest of Natsu's team felt well-rested. Erza turned to the Master, having a hunch he knew what she was going to ask.

"So Master, when do we leave?" She asked. He closed his eyes for a moment in thought, opening them again as he spoke.

"You and your team along with Gajeel and Juvia will leave tonight at 11:00 PM. The magic council will be coming to open a path for you all to travel through. We will rendezvous in the main lobby once the rest of the members leave." The three nodded and made their way down to have dinner.

Makarov could hear Natsu and the others greet them happily. He still couldn't help but feel the sadness tug at his heart, as there was a lack of head butting between Gray and Natsu. It was too quiet without that boy here. He hid it well from his kids, but deep down he felt responsible for getting Gray into this mess in the first place. He had to bring him home, whatever it took. The guild master clenched his fists and glared at the ground.

"_Don't worry Gray, we're coming for you."_

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Review and leave your thoughts, thanks.


	6. Chapter 6: An Unwanted Adventure Awates

It was an absolutely beautiful day in the kingdom of Stardell. The sun shone brightly, the birds chirped cheerfully as the perched themselves around the kingdoms architecture, and the clouds rolled by as peaceful as could be. All seemed to be well in the greenery-filled kingdom. All except for the distressed ice wizard on the second floor of the castle.

"_He is a vital part of our operation, we cannot lose him," _Gray's head flipped from side to side in his sleep. A faint layer of sweat shown on his forehead.

"_It's for the best," _His breathing picked up. Shallow breaths were all he could manage. He couldn't fill his lungs no matter how hard he tried.

"_We're only going to keep you there forever," _Eyebrows furrowing together he could be heard muttering to himself, unable to escape the nightmare he had been dragged into.

"N–N...o N-no–! St–Stop it–_Agh!_" He screamed, eyes shooting open as he lunged forward in bed. Eyes scanning the room with paranoia, he scooted himself up against the headboard behind him. He latched onto the poles of the bed frame with his left hand and had his right hand gripping the sheets by his side. He heaved in and out, squinting his eyes to try and calm down. After he managed to ground himself, he dropped his hands down to his lap and took note of where he was. To say he was shocked at his surroundings would be an understatement.

The room he was in had hand-painted walls, various pieces of artwork covered the walls around him. Even up onto the ceiling he could see clouds, stars, and even a moon in the center of the roof just in front of his bed. He looked around to see all white furniture in the room. A dresser, vanity, and white bookshelves on either side of the room, and on his left and right side were two matching side tables. He looked to the left side of the room to see two tall glass double doors, a personal bathroom, and a mannequin with clothes on it. He decided he felt well enough to get out of bed and explore a bit. Considering how he was kidnapped, he certainly had _not_ expected to wake up in luxury like this. As he got up, he realized he was wearing different clothes–pajamas to be exact. He would feel his face heat up at the thought of someone else dressing him. Shaking his head, he tried to push the thought from his mind.

He looked down at himself and realized he was wearing a set of navy blue silk pajamas. The top had long sleeves, and pants that were the perfect length. He looked himself over as he stood, surprised at how comfortable they were. He stretched and gave a small yawn, how long had he been out? He walked over to the balcony doors and opened them. He shielded his eyes from the sun at first, and once they adjusted to the bright world in front of him he was in absolute shock.

Ahead of him was a luscious backyard. Flowers and gardens as far as he could see, trees lining the portion of the property he could see, pools and fountains scattered amongst the land, and animals everywhere. He jumped as a bluejay flew over to his balcony and landed right next to him, chirping happily as it sat. He gave a small smile at this and was shocked when he could reach out to pat the birds head. He chuckled to himself as the bird flew and perched on his left shoulder.

"Well you certainly aren't shy little buddy," He smiled, the bird chirped in response. He wanted to go back inside, so he nudged the bird carefully toward the balcony edge and watched it fly back into the sky.

His smile faded as he was brought back to reality by the hundreds and thousands of questions running through his brain. What was this place? He remembered what the master had told him, but he didn't think the country could still be so lavish. He turned to return to his bedroom. He noticed a clock at his bedside and checked it. The time read "10:43 AM" He raised his brows at this, realizing he had no idea how long he had slept for, but he certainly felt well-rested. He wanted to check out the rest of the castle, seeing as there didn't seem to be many prominent threats at the moment. He checked the bureau's and closets in the room stunned to see both were filled to the brim with beautiful clothing. So much of it was formal wear though, there was really nothing that fit his more casual style. He took some clothes he thought would be fine and walked into the bathroom. He flicked on the light thinking he couldn't be any more blown away, only to be proven wrong again.

The bathroom was white with marble lining all of the appliances. The floor was made of pristine white tiling. The bathtub was built into the wall with marble edges and a ginormous bouquet of blue orchids in the corner of the room. No two flowers were the same shade. He looked to the sink and saw the shower was just next to it, both lined with marble. He looked ahead between the bathtub and the shower to see another vanity, and next to it was a silk bathrobe hung up on a hook in the wall. The two walls each had arched windows with drawn back cream-colored curtains. Gray blinked a few times, the rooms almost being overwhelming for him.

"This place is gorgeous...how did I get here…?" He whispered to himself. Deciding to worry about that later, he closed and locked the door behind him and started his typical morning routine. He showered, brushed his teeth, dried his hair, and started getting dressed.

The outfit he had picked was a pair of dark navy jeans with a brown leather belt. Tucked into that was a light blue long-sleeved dress shirt (to which he had cuffed the sleeves just below his elbows) with a white t-shirt underneath. He paired the outfit with the most comfortable looking shoes he could find, that being a pair of light brown dress shoes. He looked at the mirror of the vanity in his room, surprised at how great he looked.

"_Least I know how to dress myself,_" He scoffed to himself, remembering the weirdo he had run into a few days ago. Before he left the room, for the sake of getting himself on a normal schedule, he grabbed a watch to match his shoes and belt out of a jewelry box he found nearby. It really felt weird to just put on the clothes he found, but for once, he wasn't comfortable running around naked. Ready to leave his room, he grabbed the doorknob and took a breath, stepping into the hallway of the castle.

He couldn't believe how grand this building was and he had only been in three rooms, this was going to kill him. He craned his neck up to look at the high ceilings above him. Makarov could have used his magic here and he _might _have been able to touch the ceiling. There were red carpets that lined the hallways, potted plants, and flowers in the corners and edges of the hall, and chandeliers as far as he could see. His room seemed to be at the corner of the floor, as he could see a path that went straight to a giant marble staircase, and to his right, he could walk down a marble staircase. He looked at the door to his room and the doors surrounding it. He suddenly realized there was only one door. On the opposite corner of the wall toward the rising staircase, there was another door, the same one as his. The only difference was the emblems carved into the front of each one.

On his door was what looked like some kind of crown centered inside of half of a ring made of leaves. On the other door, it was a more petite looking crown with flowers wrapping around and underneath it. He thought they looked beautiful, the thought and artwork that had gone into this place was insane. He turned over his right shoulder and decided to walk downstairs. He could hear waterfalls as he reached the lower of the two floors and walked down the hall. The hallway was open and had no windows but was instead supported by columns on either side. He walked with his hands in his pockets, jaw slack, and took in the beautiful sights. Once he was through the stretch of open hallway he noticed another large opening up ahead and made his way toward it. As he went to round a corner he started to hear some other voices. Immediately putting his guard up, he pushed himself up against a wall, peering his head to the right and eavesdropping. It sounded like two girls talking up ahead.

"Aw, c'mon Elaina, it won't be that bad! You've got to give this one a chance!" One girl encouraged.

"Lauren, I don't even _know_ this boy. What if he's everything I've never wanted in a guy? Or, what if he hates me?!" She argued back. They were fighting over a boy?

"_Yikes, I feel sorry for whoever this guy they're talking about is. Girls are crazy," _His eye twitching slightly remembering all of the moments Juvia had weirded him out. He kept listening to the girl's conversation.

"Well, you said it yourself: you haven't even met this guy yet! For all you know, he could be a total gentleman. Plus, you already saw his face, you _know_ he's handsome." The other girl giggled.

"I guess when you put it that way," She trailed off. Gray was curious to know what else was going on. These girls didn't seem as creepy as the trackers he'd run into so far, they just sounded like any girl he'd ever met before. He took a chance, peeking around the corner.

There were two girls who looked to be about his age. The girl who looked to be persuading her friend had long blonde hair that was tied in a braid off to her right shoulder. She had brilliant, bright blue eyes. She was wearing a sleeveless blue dress that had a criss-cross tie in the front of her chest, tying into a bow at the center of her waist. The dress stopped right at her knees and she was wearing a pair of white flats.

The other girl had short, caramel brown hair and brown eyes to match. Her hair was wavy and stopped just below her collar bones. She wore an orange dress, similar to her friends. There were golden flowers embroidered all over the dress, and it had three quarter length sleeves. There was a bow at the back of her dress that tied off a thin gold belt that wrapped around her waist. She was wearing a pair of beige flats to match the dress.

"_Maybe I should introduce myself, they seem like nice people to me,"_ Gray pulled back from looking at the two and thought behind the wall. He felt a pang of guilt for eavesdropping, especially on two ladies, but was dragged out of his thoughts by a sudden commotion from where the girls were. He continued listening and realized a man had appeared.

"Yoohoo, Lady Elaina! How are thee on this fine day, hmm?" Some creep called to her. Gray looked back to see the guy talking try to take her hand and kiss it, only for him to receive the cold shoulder. Elaina turned her back on the odd boy, a scowl presenting itself on her face. Her friend scowling from the side, her fists clenched at him. Gray took a minute to look the boy over.

He had dark brown hair that was similar to his own, and dark blue eyes. He was wearing a blue shirt with a white handkerchief in the middle of his chest. The shoulders had golden accents, that matched the ends of his sleeves. He wore black slacks to match with black dress shoes. Looks aside, the guy seemed like an idiot.

"Go away, creep!" Lauren yelled at the boy. He sarcastically looked hurt at this and turned his back to the blonde girl.

"Alex, what do you want?" She demanded of the boy, blunt as hell, too. The boy scoffed and tried to get close to her again, startling her and her friend.

"Now now, is that any way to speak to your future husband? " He slinked one arm around her back, pulling her into him. With his left hand, he grabbed her free hand and held it up as if they were about to dance.

"Picture us, having our first dance in the grand hall! The whole kingdom in awe of us and out beauty!" The girl clearly trying to pull away from the boy as he spun her around and swung her from side to side. Gray knew he couldn't let this keep up, he was just harassing them at this point. He stepped out from the wall, three heads spinning in his direction.

"Hey buddy, I think the lady made it clear she has no business with you. Why don't you go find a girl who _actually_ wants to breathe in the same room as you?" Gray snarled. The boy was completely shocked at this, but the woman in his arms looked completely shocked. She grinned devilishly and ran her heel along the boy's shin, slamming it down hard onto his toes. He hollered and released her, jumping on one leg as he hugged his injured foot. The girl laughed and ran away toward her friend. Gray smirked, walking forward and stepping in front of the two girls. He glanced back at the two, being careful not to step on anyone's toes by butting into their business–_literally._

"Excuse me for barging in like that, but I'm guessing you guys don't want this kid bothering you. Is that right?" He asked kindly. The blonde-haired girl gave a firm and angry couple of nods, while the brown-haired girl simply stared in at him. Gray turned back upon hearing a grumble from in front of him. The boy stormed up and got right in his face, but Gray simply stood there with his hands still in his pockets.

"Oh, you've got a lot of nerve young man! I'm Alexander Veilish the Third, soon to be prince of the kingdom of Stardell! How _dare_ you speak to royalty such as myself in such a despicable way." Gray made a face at the boy, looking him up and down before he let out a chuckle.

"Damn, if you're royalty this whole town is doomed," He rolled his eyes as he said it, knowing he could get a rise out of the boy in front of him. He heard the girls behind him start snickering. The boy's glare intensified.

"_I WILL HAVE YOU ARRESTED FOR ACTING SO HORRIBLY IN MY PRESENCE!"_ He shouted, getting a simple eyebrow raise from Gray.

"Sheesh, pipe down already, you're loud as hell," Gray said turning his face away from the screaming child. The boy went to speak again and shoved a finger into Gray's chest. Gray could immediately feel himself lose his temper.

"_He touched me. I'm done being nice."_ Gray grabbed the boys hand in a flash, gripping it hard enough to produce audible cracks. The boy's anger subsided and instantly turned to fear.

"Listen here, pipsqueak. If I see you buggin' these two ladies again I'm gonna make you eat those words while I kick your cocky ass outta' this castle." Gray scowled and moved even closer, his voice going down to a whisper.

"_Do I make myself crystal, clear?"_ Gray growled, adding heavy emphasis to the end of his sentence. The boy frantically nodding at this point. Gray pulled back, boredom written all over his face. He released the boy's hand and sent him screaming down the hallway. He ran so fast a trail of dust appeared in his path. Gray couldn't help but laugh a bit and turned back to the girls behind him.

"I'm sorry for causing such a scene, but are you two alright?" he asked politely, glancing between the two girls in front of him. The blonde one spoke up first.

"We're great now that you showed up. Maybe that bimbo will finally stop bugging you, right Elaina?" Lauren looked at her friend and gasped slightly. "Elaina, are you feeling okay?" The brown-haired girl simply stared at Gray, Gray looking just as confused back at her.

"Um...did I say something to offend you…?" Gray tried, worried he had upset her. "Uh...Elaina, hello...earth to Elai–gah!" Gray yelled. Elaina had run from her friend's side and up to Gray and embraced the dark-haired boy in a hug. Gray's arms went out to the side in shock of the sudden motion, but tried to be kind and returned the hug. He looked to the blonde girl in front of him seeing her just as shocked as she was. Lauren noticed Gray raise an eyebrow and came back to reality with a brilliant idea.

"Hey, we haven't even asked your name yet! Who are you exactly?" She asked with a tip of her head. Elaina pulled back from Gray's chest as he dropped his arms to his sides.

"My name's Gray, you guys are Lauren and Elaina, is that right?" Both girls seemed a bit confused as to how he knew their names. "I overheard you guys talking when I was coming around the corner, I heard Alex's hissy fit and decided it would be best to intervene." He explained, fibbing only a hair.

"Thank you very much for your help, we're both grateful you came when you did," Elaina said sweetly. She smiled up at Gray who returned the gesture, his smile meeting his eyes.

"Yeah, of course. It's really no problem." He responded. Lauren cleared her throat and the two looked her way.

"Hey if you're not busy Gray, maybe we should go get lunch together. You're new here, right?" Lauren prompted, receiving an awkward look from Gray. The two girls smiled at each other. "Don't worry, we'll explain everything at lunch. Let's go!" She hopped as she spoke from excitement. The three continued talking together and made their way to the dining hall at the other end of the castle.

Back in Fiore in the Fairy Tail guildhall, the magic council arrived right on time. Makarov spoke to the council, and Natsu and his crew. They had all eaten, washed up, and gone home to gather what they needed for their journey. No one knew what they would be up against.

"Natsu and his teammates are to be accompanied by Gajeel and Juvia to travel to the Kingdom of Stardell in search of the missing ice mage, Gray Fullbuster. Once he is retrieved you are to leave the scene immediately and return to where the portal drops you. Once you return with him, the portal will reappear, and bring you back to Fairy Tail." All members nodded firmly. Anxiety built in the stomachs of each guild member as the magic council summoned the portal to Stardell. The man who summoned it turned to the team and gave a bow.

"We wish you all the best. Please be safe on your journey." The travelers bowed back. Natsu turned to his teammates, excitement plastered all over his face.

"Alright gang, you ready?!" He hollered. Lucy, Happy, Erza, Wendy, Carla, Gajeel, Pantherlily, and Juvia all responded with confidence.

"Yeah!" They answered in unison. Natsu's grin widened and he turned to look at the guild master.

"Don't you worry a hair on your head, Gramps! We're bringin' ice boy home no matter what!" He promised. Makarov gave him a tender smile, knowing Natsu would keep his word.

"I know you will my boy, I have faith in you. Go forth, and bring Gray home!" He commanded. Feeling rejuvenated, the team stepped through the portal and left Magnolia. There was a bright white flash that they all shielded their eyes from.

When they appeared on the other side, the greenery they were met with was breath-taking. They all took gasped in awe of the beauty surrounding them. They had walked through and come out at the edge of a forest. They were atop a hill, and in the far distance, could see a massive castle surrounded by a tall white wall. On the outskirts of the wall was a bright and lively looking town, they could even see the lights and hear the commotion from as far away as they were. A breeze blew past them, they could taste how crisp the air was. Wendy jumped for joy and twirled on her toes, Lucy smiled up towards the sky thinking about how beautiful the stars would be, and Happy and Carla flew around their ground enjoying the breeze. Natsu looked at his group and turned to face the castle ahead of them. He smiled and thought to himself. Little did he know, his best friend was thinking the same exact thing.

"_Maybe this place isn't so bad, " _the two boys wondered hopefully. Perhaps, they weren't as far away from each other as they realized, after all.

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Review and leave your thoughts, thanks.


	7. Chapter 7: Let The Plotting Begin

Gray, Elaina, and Lauren continued their walk toward the dining hall of the castle. Gray certainly had an abundance of questions and hoped the two girls could help answer them. Lauren was much more outgoing than Elaina, who leaned more toward the polite and sweet end of the spectrum. Lauren was chatting a mile a minute and it was hard to keep up with what she was saying to them. She mentioned something about a summer ceremony, catching Gray's full attention.

"What ceremony are you talking about?" He asked the blonde girl. She looked ecstatic that he had asked, and started spilling every detail of the event.

"Oh, it's such a wonderful event! Each year, a celebration is held in the courtyard walls of the castle. It marks the yearly anniversary of the recovery of our kingdom from events that go back for hundreds of years. It's called the Star Festival"

"It's a big event where we honor the memory of our founding queen from long, long ago. She built this kingdom to be what it was, but in the end, she fell to utter heartbreak. Her heart and soul turned to solid ice and took her away from our kingdom," Lauren trailed off, looking gloomy as she spoke. "She did so much for us, and she was a wonderful person. We celebrate her memory each summer as a thank you to her devotion to our home and its people." Though sad, it was reassuring to know what Gramps had told him and Erza was holding up. Lauren's cheeks went red as she squealed, hands on her cheeks as she jumped for joy around her quieter friend.

"But, this year is different! It'll be a ceremony like no other!" Lauren exclaimed. Elaina looking embarrassed, she scowled at her friend.

"Lauren, keep it down! I'm not happy about this at all, believe me!" She huffed as she crossed her arms and halted to a stop. Gray couldn't help but feel some curiosity about the girl's predicament.

"If you don't mind my asking, what's different this year from past years?" They both looked at him in shock. Elaina's scowl melting into a look of complete disbelief. Nobody said a word for what felt like hours.

"You mean, you don't know?" She questioned. Gray took a small step away from the two girls, bring his arms up as he went on the defensive.

"To be frank, I don't really know anything about this place. I was hoping you might be able to give me some information." Both girls looked appalled. Elaina shook her head in confusion.

"I don't understand, you have to know what's going to happen at the festival. Why else would you have come here?" Gray shook his head at this, quickly dismissing the girl's assumption.

"No, you've got the wrong idea, _I_ didn't come here," He pointed to his chest as he spoke. He stopped himself and took a breath. "I need to talk to you guys in private," He asked, his voice just barely above a whisper. He looked around to make sure nobody was nearby.

"I didn't come here on my own doing. I'm not supposed to be here and I need your help to figure out how to get home." He said cautiously. Both girls froze in place, unsure of how to respond to the news. Elaina snapped out of it and grabbed Gray's hand, dragging him forward and running to the safest place in the castle she could think of. There was one thought running through the girl's mind as Gray and Lauren followed behind her.

"_How could he not know?"_

Unbeknownst to the party of three, a familiar brown-haired boy peered around from behind a wall, listening in intensely on their conversation. Scowling at first, a devious smile appeared on his face, realizing what good news this was to him.

"_Not from this world, eh? Let's see what that's all about," _Alex thought maliciously to himself as he snuck off to follow Gray and the girls to their next location. He was hell-bent on taking the throne and would not let this new guy get in his way.

Natsu sat on a tree stump in the area he and his team had set up as their base of operation. The others were making plans to enter the city before they began their journey. Not knowing much about this world, proper planning seemed essential to most party members involved.

Of course, Natsu wasn't paying attention. When did the dragon slayer ever plan things? Normally he would be spacing out and goofing around because he was bored. This time, he was just worried about Gray. He was antsy to get going, why couldn't they plan while they walked?

"Did you catch that Natsu?" Lucy asked frustrated whilst poking at the side of the fire mage's head. Coming back to reality, he looked up to see everyone looking at him. A massive grin appearing on his face.

"Of course I heard you!" He yelled confidently before stopping to look at Happy. "When are we leaving?" He whispered, indiscreetly. Happy simply sighed.

"Natsu you need to get it together and focus, you know what we're here for." Erza scolded. The smug look falling off both Natsu and Happy's faces. If anyone knew why they were here, it was Natsu. He clenched his fists as he remembered looking into Gray's abandoned apartment building. He made a promise to Gray and he was going to keep it no matter what. Erza could feel the emotions pulsing off of her hot-headed friend and continued explaining their plan.

"We will divide into teams. Natsu, Happy, and Lucy are our first team. Juvia, Wendy, and Carla will be our second team. Gajeel and I will be the third team. From the looks of things, my guess is that it will be at least two days before we reach the outer wall of the city." Everyone nodded in agreement as she continued, breaking down each team's responsibilities.

"Team Wendy, your job will be to find information about the events coming up in the kingdom. The Master mentioned to me briefly before our departure that there is a yearly festival around this time of the summer. You are to look into that and any other events and find out how they could involve Gray."

"Gajeel and I will get a larger scope of the area and see what we can figure out about the Trackers here and the higher-ups in the castle. Ideally, we can infiltrate sooner rather than later to get Gray."

"Team Natsu, once we get to the kingdom and separate into our individual jobs, you are to track down and capture Gray at any cost. Unless you are told by us to come back, you must retrieve him under any circumstances. Is everyone clear on their roles?" She asked, receiving unanimous positive responses from her teammates.

"Good," she said, looking at the sun which was already starting to set in the sky. "We'll stay here and depart early tomorrow morning." With that, each team member went about their business. The camp was oddly quiet, as a certain pink-haired wizard was not sitting with the rest of his team.

Natsu had walked away from the group to find a spot to be alone for a bit. He felt so restless, he wished they had left that night, at least gotten farther than where they started. He would have felt so much better if that were the case. He had found a tree to lean up against, left knee folded on the ground out to the side while he rested his opposite arm on his other leg. He leaned his head back into the tree and tried to focus his thoughts when he smelled someone familiar coming up behind him. He knew it was Gajeel, so he stayed where he was and let the iron dragon slayer settle down next to him. It was quiet for a minute before Gajeel spoke.

"You know it isn't your fault Gray was taken, right Natsu?" He prompted the boy softly. Natsu wanted to say yes. Rationally, he knew the answer was yes. His heart, on the other hand, was telling him the total opposite.

"I want to know it's not my fault, but the guilt has been stuck to me since this started Gajeel." Natsu sighed, closing his eyes.

"Well, something is obviously much different this time. Retrace your steps." Gajeel suggested. Natsu thought deeply for a minute. He wasn't the brightest bulb on the tree, but he was really trying to remember every detail about the last time he was with Gray. He furrowed his brows, out of anger and guilt. He clenched the fist at his left side that was draped in his lap.

"He cried for me, Gajeel. He cried out to me for help." Natsu paused, taking a slightly shaky breath. Gajeel raised his brows at this. He knew Gray was tough as nails, but he didn't realize how desperate the boy was the night he was kidnapped. He hadn't heard many details of what had happened, he only knew the boy was gone. Details aside, it really wasn't like Natsu to beat himself up like this. If anything, those mistakes only fueled the fire that was his passion to protect the people he held dear to him.

"Gray obviously trusts you then, bonehead," Gajeel chuckled, poking at Natsu's side with his elbow to get a grin out of the kid. He succeeded in that, at least. "You didn't let Gray down, he wouldn't have called out to you if he didn't believe you would be able to help him." Natsu just sat in silence with Gajeel for a moment, trying to process what his friend was trying to get him to believe. Gajeel was right, moping around wasn't going to get his best friend back home. He needed to act, not pout. Natsu leaned his head forward, a determined smile on his face. Gajeel mimicking his grin, the two boys fist-bumped one another.

"You feelin' fired up again, pal?" Gajeel asked.

"You bet I am! I can't wait for tomorrow!" He threw a fist forward, eager to start their journey. Gajeel smiled at the shorter boy, grateful he could pull him out of the dump so easily. The two walked back to see most of their friends settling into sleep for the night, and they quickly followed suit.

The morning came quickly which Natsu was very thankful for. He was the first one awake and the first one ready to go. The other members of their team feeding off of his energy felt ready for action. They were almost entirely packed up when Erza pulled three walkie talkies out of her backpack. She handed one to Natsu and Wendy and held onto the third one herself.

"We'll need these when we decided to meet at a hotel at the end of the day or if anything happens while we're apart. Keep these on you at all times." The redhead commanded. Natsu tucked his in Lucy's bag while Wendy put hers in her own bag.

"Why are you putting it with me?" Lucy asked, a question mark popping up over her head. Natsu chuckled.

"If anyone's going to lose their bag and blow stuff up, it's going to be me. At least I'm thinking ahead for once!" He beamed with pride. His teammates all sweatdropped at him. They quickly recovered and made way for The Kingdom of Stardell.

Gray and the girls eventually made their way back to the two rooms Gray had left from. His room, and what he suddenly realized was Elaina's room. They slowed down as Elaina opened her door and let the two inside. She locked the door once they had all entered. Gray looked around the room to see it was the exact same setup as his room, but instead of being themed blue, the room was light pink. Gray felt the same awestruck feeling enter his mind but quickly shook it off, reminding himself why they were here. Elaina and Lauren sat on her bed while Gray sat in a nearby vanity chair. The two girls looked at each other before turning to Gray again.

"I need you to start from the beginning on who you are and how you got here. Everything matters. Go." She demanded, a bit harshly, but Gray couldn't exactly blame her. He didn't do the best job introducing himself after hearts eyes ran off earlier. Gray sighed and leaned back in his seat, already tired at the thought of explaining everything.

He told them about his guild in Fiore, Fairy Tail, and what happened on the day of their summer kick-off party earlier that week. He told them about the Tracker he had run into and the night at the guild where all of the weird events took place. He told them everything his guild master, Master Makarov, had told him and Erza. He told them about Rexile jumping him in his apartment, calling for Natsu, and about the third guy who put him to sleep. The next thing he knew was that he had woken up in the room next door to hers. Elaina looked disappointed when Gray finished explaining everything to her.

"The thing is, we haven't been entirely honest with you, either." She looked down to the floor as she spoke. She sighed nervously, brushing a piece of hair behind her ear. "The Star Festival isn't just some history lesson we do every summer. It is a commemoration of everything our founding queen did when she built our home. That's normally all it is at least," Gray leaned forward onto his knees, clearly interested in what she had to say.

"The reason this summer is different is that it is the 500th anniversary of our founding queen's death. The festival was to be a grand and magnificent event like no other, as to honor her life. That's what the higher-ups have said to me, at least."

"That being said, the royal family needs to start planning for the next generation of heirs to the throne. When Alex called me Lady Elaina earlier, he wasn't being fresh. I'm actually the king's daughter." She said shyly as she fidgeted with the quilt on her bed. Gray did not like where this was going.

"In order to celebrate properly, they wanted me to get married because I'm of proper age now. I have been told consistently that the marriage is being arranged and that all of the planning was going smoothly. Unfortunately, the groom is a total dirtbag and I hate him!" she snarled, her fists clenching the quilt beneath her. Lauren patted her friends back in support.

"The boy you met earlier, Alex, is her fiance." She announced sadly. Gray's breath caught in his throat. He was expecting anything but that to be her explanation when they came up here. He wished it were anything other than that. He felt so bad that she had to marry a weirdo like that. Marriages weren't business deals!

"So, they're arranging for you to marry that bird-brained coward? You clearly don't like him. Is it for some type of financial or property gain?" Elaina shook her head.

"I assumed that at first, but my father immediately dismissed it. I wouldn't put it past the staff to lie about something like that, this is a kingdom after all," she trailed off in irritation. Gray had heard of arranged marriages, but never thought he would be involved with one at all. He crossed arms and closed his eyes for a moment. He opened them and looked back at the girls.

"So, the festival and your wedding are happening on the same day, right?" Both girls nodded. That was just poor planning in Gray's opinion.

"Who planned the dates for these events? Has your father got some kind of personal secretary?"

"Well he does, but because it's my wedding he picked the date himself, not his secretary." Gray scowled. That did not bode well for them, something wasn't adding up.

"No way, there's more to this than that. There has to be," He looked up to the two girls, suddenly having more energy in his voice than before. "Why would the father of the bride schedule her wedding on the same day as one of the biggest events in your kingdom's history? Each event is so important they would have to have their own entire day dedicated to them. It wouldn't be doing either justice to have them on the same day." The three sat in silence for a moment as they racked their brains at what the duel events could mean. Gray had a good point, they just needed to figure out how they connected.

"Do you think the wedding and the festival happening together could be a distraction or something? They're both events that would bring in a lot of people." Lauren suggested. Getting a gasp from Elaina and Gray, the girl looked at him curiously.

"Gray, you're a mage, right? What kind of magic do you use?" Elaina asked him.

"I use ice magic, why?" He answered.

"What can you do with your magic?"

"I can create and control things made out of ice. It's a really unique kind of magic, it's called maker magic." Elaina's eyes grew a bit wider at her next thought.

"Gray, they wouldn't have brought you here to try to do anything to the former queen, would they?" Gray hadn't even thought of that. It made perfect sense, though. Who in their right mind would schedule a wedding and a celebration so important on the same day? They hadn't begun to figure out how he tied into this yet, either.

"Is there a temple or a shrine somewhere dedicated to her? What would they want me to do?"

"Yes," Elaina confirmed. "There is a shrine for her underneath this castle hundreds of feet below the ground. They've kept her there since her body was frozen." Gray's eyes went wide again, worried that she was implying some dark magic, taboo crap.

"Shit. Elaina, what are you getting at here?" Gray asked, feeling a knot begin to form in his stomach.

"Well if you can control ice and they knew that about you, why else would they have brought you here? There's no other reason. I can't think of anything else at least," trailing off, all three members looked to the ground. The room was silent for a few minutes before a knock at Elaina's door pulled them all from their thoughts.

"Hello, lady Elaina, are you in there dear?" Elaina hopped off of her bed and ran to open her bedroom door.

"Oh, hi Miss Madeleine! What brings you here?" Elaina asked sweetly. The woman waved to Lauren and was surprised to see Gray sitting at the vanity in her bedroom.

"Young man, you must be , is that right?" Gray smiled, she was a very kind woman. He couldn't sense any kind of magic coming from her, so he figured she must not be an enemy either.

"Yes, I am. You can call me Gray though," He got up and shook her hand.

"My name is Madeleine Fletcher, it's wonderful to meet you, young man." She shook his hand and gasped when she looked down.

"That reminds me! I was asked to let you two know that the king has requested your presence for dinner in the dining hall later this evening at 6:00. That should give you plenty of time to get ready and freshen up." She smiled at them. Saying their thanks, she bowed and left the bedroom to return to her other duties. Elaina relocked the door behind them, the three looking at each other intensely.

"Talk about timing," Gray muttered.

"My father is impeccable when it comes to timing things like this." She muttered, a red mark appearing on her forehead as she closed her eyes angrily. Lauren nodded in agreement, knowing that her friend and father rarely saw eye to eye on most matters. Gray sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He rose from his seat and put his hands in his pockets.

"Well, no point avoiding the unavoidable. We've got a little under two hours until dinner," He noted with a glance down at the watch he forgot he threw on this morning. "What do you guys want to do before then?" Elaina and Lauren looked at each other trying to decide. Lauren slammed one of her fists down onto her other as she declared her idea to the crew.

"Hey! We should go check out the castle library, maybe we can start to figure out what they want with Gray." Gray and Elaina nodded at this.

"They do say knowledge is power, I'm down for that. Elaina?" Gray asked, seeing if she was in agreement.

"I think that's a great idea guys. Plus, there are other hidden archives of books I can go check out, but maybe we should wait to sneak to those after dinner." Gray smirked, he liked these two. Elaina was kind but she had a sharp mind, while Lauren reminded him the faintest bit of Natsu. His heart tugged, he had hardly thought about Natsu and the others since he woke up earlier that morning. His craving to be home hitting him like a fresh wave of water, he looked to the side of the room and swallowed. He was not about to get into this now, he had more important things to focus on, like doing research to get himself home. Maybe, if they were lucky, he might be able to help Elaina as well. He turned and went to open the door for the girls.

"We should head down, we don't have the time to waste." As Lauren went to leave, Elaina looked at Gray, looking like she was about to cry. She ran up and hugged him for the second time that day. Gray was still as surprised the second time as he was the first time.

"I promise we're going to make things right for you," she whispered. Shocked at first, Gray's expression changed to more gentle one. He wrapped his arms around her in return.

"Thank you, guys." He whispered back fondly. They separated, Elaina sporting a devilish look in her eyes as they went to leave the room.

"Ya know, maybe if we're lucky, you can scare Alex again," she suggested. Gray snickered at her idea. If he saw the kid again he definitely wouldn't hesitate, he was certain of that.

"I might just have to take you up on that girly," the same devilish gleam appearing in his eyes.

"Are we plotting on how to scare Alex next?" Lauren piped in, receiving full-blown laughter from her two friends.

"I can't believe you got that with no context," he said with a hand on his stomach while he wiped a tear from his eye. "I almost want to feel bad for that kid, but he is way too fun to mess with," Gray concluded.

"Yup!" the two ladies chirped next to him.

As Gray, Elaina, and Lauren made their way down to the library, Alex slowly emerged from around the edge of the ascending stairwell. A truly evil look in his eyes, he simply smiled and turned to ascend the staircase.

"My oh my, Gray Fullbuster. You haven't a clue what you're getting yourself into." He thought out loud. His hands clasped behind his back, he looked out a nearby window and smirked to himself

"_The Star Festival cannot come soon enough."_

In the library, Gray was up on a ladder looking through higher up shelves. They decided to start with magic and history books to see what pieces of the puzzle they could put together. If the staff in the castle wanted his magic to potentially thaw the Queen, Gray didn't like the idea of that in the slightest. The last time he was around for ice to be thawed and saw something revived, it was Lyon bringing back Deliora. Gray shuddered as he remembered his three encounters with the beast, none of them had ended well for anyone. He hoped he was wrong about his and the girl's assumptions, but for some reason, that possibility was eating at him more than any other ideas they had come up with so far.

They had been in the library for about an hour now. Elaina and Lauren had originally started reading the first few things they could find on the low shelves while Gray offered to climb up and check out the other parts of the library.

The castle library had two large, wooden double doors at the entrance. The floor had a pattern of white and tan tiles that alternated along the cold floors. The entire room was covered with tall shelves filled to the brim with all kinds of books. With so much information in one place, there had to answers for them somewhere.

Gray ascended the ladder again on one of the shelves that was in the back right corner of the library. The ladder went all the way to the top of the shelf and he could see on top of all of them. He would grab the top of the shelves edges for support and a cautionary until he grabbed something else at one of the shelves. He drew his hand back and climbed to the very top step of the ladder to look over the decorative emblem that extended from the top of the bookshelf.

He looked over it and saw a small, dark blue book. It had some sort of crown on it, and behind the crown was what appeared to be a spell circle. Gray gasped and grabbed the book. It was covered with a hefty coat of dust that after he wiped off the cover left Gray's hand, well, Gray.

Wiping his hand down, he carefully descended the ladder and made his way over to the girls.

"Hey guys, I think I've got something." He held up the book to the two ladies reading at a nearby couch and coffee table.

"What is that? I've never seen it before," Elaina said. Gray looked at the book, clearly looking older than the three of them combined. He turned it around in his hands before opening it and sitting down. Lauren and Elaina gathered around to peer at the book from either side of Gray. Gray squinted at the first page, the font so faded and old it was hard to make out.

"Uh…" he groaned, putting his face centimeters away from the text. "Is that a P?" Elaina sighed and grabbed the book from him and threw on her glasses.

"Sacred Rituals of The Dark Arts: Resu– Resurrections?!" Elaina yelled.

"Say what now?!" Gray and Lauren hollered back jumping to the opposite end of the couch they were gathered at. Elaina's shock turned to disbelief.

"What would a book like this be doing in our castle library? Our people would never try to disturb the dead. Life is seen as something so sacred, how did this get here?" She held it in one hand as she placed her opposite hand on her hip.

"Well, let's pop it open and start reading. I've got a pretty good hunch this one wasn't a donation to the local library," Gray said with a snarky tone. They opened the book and read down the table of contents. They say in utter disbelief in response to what was on the pages.

"Resurrections Explained, Purpose of Resurrections, How to perform Resurrection Rituals," Elaina trailed off. "There's so many chapters in this damn book, it's an entire guide on how to bring somebody back from the dead." Elaina said in horror.

"Hey Elaina, let me see that for a second," Gray asked, receiving the book quickly as though it had the plague. He scanned the table of contents, pulling back when he found what he was looking for.

"Aha," he said with a smirk. With one finger under the chapter number and the other flipping to the requested page, he folded the book open.

"Resurrections Through The Elements," Gray read aloud, getting the girls attention. He quickly scanned the pages, his index finger running down each paragraph, eventually stopping under a column titled "Ice Resurrection" Elaina and Lauren looked at each other.

"There's no way–they wouldn't" Elaina thought out loud.

"How could they do something like this!" Lauren shouted, fists clenching. Gray internally laughed at himself. These two really reminded him of Lucy and Natsu right now, making a note to tell the two about it when he went home. Gray dog-eared the page and folded the book shut.

"Elaina, you've got that backpack with you still, right?" Gray asked in a quieter tone. As much as he also wanted to freak out at their discovery, they had to keep this book a secret at all costs. This could make or break Gray's escape and the dire events Elaina and Lauren's home might face. The brown-haired girl nodded and swiftly grabbed it from the back of a nearby chair. It was just a mini tan backpack with gold zippers and accents.

"I think it'll be best if I hang onto this for now, best to keep you guys out of any potential trouble." He decided, the girls agreed. They left the room, the tan backpack on Elaina's back and book zipped inside. Once they made their way back to Elaina's room, she looked around and handed Gray the backpack. He slipped inside his bedroom and locked the door behind him. Now the real question, where would be a good spot to his this thing?

He looked around the room. Closets, end tables, and dressers would be too obvious. If anyone came searching for it they would definitely look there first. He couldn't hide it in the bathroom for fear of humidity or water ruining the book because it was very clearly an aged item. He smirked as he got a perfect idea.

He ran to the side of his bed he normally slept on and lifted the quilt and both sheets. Just as he had hoped, the mattress was also a light blue shade, perfect for him to cover with some ice.

"Ice-Make: Knife!" He whispered intensely, a small knife appearing in his hands. He set the knife and book on the side table of his room and picked up his mattress, sliding it ninety degrees clockwise. He sliced the mattress side open just enough to slide the book inside until later that night after dinner. He carefully pulled his hand out and double-checked to make sure you couldn't see it from the outside. He put both hands flat up against the mattress creating a perfectly smooth cover for the slice he had created. Turning his mattress back the way it was, he got rid of the knife, washed his hands and put on some cologne, and boom: book hidden. He did a double check of the room, making sure it looked the same as it did before he left.

Elaina was outside her door without Lauren. She told him that she had gone home for the day. Gray was surprised, he had assumed she would come to dinner with them. One of his friends now gone, it left him feeling the slightest bit more on edge. The two walked to dinner in silence at first before Gray decided to start talking.

"So, what's your Dad like?" Elaina rolled her eyes.

"Annoying, selfish, stuck-up, just typical _Dad_ things," she said pointedly. Gray raised a brow at this. Was this guy really that awful?

"Damn, I didn't realize how hard he was for you to get along with, I'm sorry." He said, regretting asking her about it. He felt bad that she was stuck in this place with a parent who acted like that towards their only child. Gray sighed, some people really should not become parents.

"It's okay. There are lots of things I like about my home, I just wish my father could change his character, he's so frustrating to get along with. I hope dinner goes well at least, I'm guessing it's because you're here and the festival is happening soon. It's probably one of the two." She decided, Gray agreed. They arrived at the dining hall entrance to find two housekeepers waiting out to escort them in. Miss Madeleine greeted them both joyfully.

"Lady Elaina and Gray, welcome! You're right on time. The King is inside and waiting for the two of you. Are you ready?" Receiving a nod from the two, the housekeepers opened the doors and led them inside. Gray's breath caught in his throat. Along the wall behind the King were three people. Two people Gray already knew from his endeavors in Magnolia over the last few days. Lockson, the red-headed healer, and some brown-haired girl stood evenly spread out behind the king.

"_Dammit, of course those bastards are here." _He hissed to himself. Elaina gave him a side glance but dismissed it. Gray needed to keep his cool right now, so he tried to focus on the King and what he wanted them here for. He realized after a moment of looking that Rexile wasn't there, to which Gray smirked.

"_Guess Fairy Tail caught one of em' at least," _Taking his small victory. Gray knew Rexile was the most hostile of the three he had met so far. The brown-haired one put him much more on edge, though, because he didn't know what to expect from her.

Straight ahead of them was a long, dark, wooden table. At the tip of the table was the King Gray had already heard so much about. He was a sturdy-looking man with a hard look in his eyes. His hair was darker than his daughter's by just a shade or two, but their eye color was the same. He wore a regal black coat top with gold accented buttons running along the front. He wore black pants and black dress shoes to match. He was leaned back in his seat, his right ankle pulled up and resting on his left knee. He rested his head in his other hand. He perked up when he saw the two young adults enter the dining hall.

"Ah, Elaina my dear!" He exclaimed. Elaina smiled shyly at him and waved. She hoped so badly that this dinner would go well.

"Hey, Dad. What's up?" She asked. Gray wasn't sure what to do, so he stood next to Elaina and waited to be addressed. The King rose from his seat pushing his chair back a bit allowing Gray to see past the tall object. Lockson was directly in line with the seat. Once it moved, he quickly gave a Gray a deranged grin that only he had time to catch. A low growl left his throat. He couldn't attack these guys here, not if Elaina was going to get hurt. As for her father, he didn't have enough information to form an opinion just yet.

The King approached them and embraced his daughter in a hug, hoping she had had a good day and other parently things.

"And you must be Gray Fullbuster. I am Maximus Zander, the King of Stardell. It's a pleasure to have you here young man," He gushed. Gray gave a smile that didn't quite meet his eyes.

"Good to meet you too, your majesty. I met your daughter this morning, she and her friend Lauren have been wonderful to spend the day with." The King smiled at Elaina.

"Thank you for showing him around honey, that was very kind of you." He patted her shoulder. Gray was surprised, Elaina had made him out to be so awful. He might have been putting up a cute front to get on Gray's good side. He decided to stay wary of the man and the Trackers behind him. He knew exactly what they were here for.

"Well now, no sense in putting off dinner, I'm sure you two have worked up an appetite. Ready to eat?" He asked, both of them nodding in response. Gray glanced over his shoulder and watched the doors behind them close. The sound of the giant double doors closing put the same pit in his stomach that he felt the night he was ripped from Magnolia.

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Went back and edited the first conversation we heard with Lauren and Elaina, and I'll be going through for typos and such tomorrow. Thanks for the reviews so far, the feedback is greatly appreciated.


	8. Chapter 8: Dinner With The Man Himself!

As the party of three made their way to the dinner table Gray caught a couple more faces seated around. The King sat at the very tip of the table. Elaina sat at his right side, and Gray seated himself next to her. Across the table on the King's left were two more faces.

Directly to his left was a woman in a deep purple cloak and slim-fitting gown in a matching color. Her hair was a lighter brown shade and was done up in a bun, and her eyes were a deep shade of blue. She stared at Gray in a very mysterious way, making him avoid eye contact and continue to gaze around the table.

Following the purple woman was another man. His hair was a strawberry blonde color that flowed down his face into a well-kept beard, not growing fair from the man's face. He had bright blue eyes that contrasted well with his hair. He wore similar garments to the king only his clothes were a rich navy blue with jewel embellishments that looked like rubies. The cross mark on his top reminded him of the print on the armor Erza normally wore. His hands gripped together tightly in his lap.

"_Stop thinking about that right now! You're only going to make yourself upset. Have faith in your friends, you know they're coming for you,"_ He reminded himself firmly. He was pulled from his thoughts as a women's voice across the table started a conversation.

"My my, so you're the Gray Fullbuster I've heard so much about," She purred. Gray shuddered as he swore he saw her lick her lips.

"Yeah, that's me. What are your names?" He tried to shift the conversation from himself and onto them.

"Well, my name is Deliah Winslow. I and my colleague here, Leopold, are two of the council members of the Stardell Kingdom. The rest of the council has gone home for the evening." Even though he hated them, Gray was surprised to be the presence of such people. The life of the royal just seemed so bizarre to him.

"Good to know. What does being on the council entail? What kind of jobs do you guys help with around this place?" He asked, giving the giant dining hall a glance around as he spoke. He was never going to get over the architecture here, it was mind-blowing.

"I am one of the military leaders here, so I'm in charge of the defense of our kingdom and our army if anything ever happened," The man was clearly being modest as he spoke, a chuckle could be heard from Deliah.

"He's our top military general, so you'd best be behaving young man," An evil glint in her eyes. Gray jumped a bit at this, glancing over to Elaina and her father. They seemed to be having a nice conversation of their own. As uncomfortable as Gray was, he didn't want to interrupt them. He looked back to the two adults in front of him to see each of them staring at him with a keen and knowing look in their eyes. Gray made a mental note to stay away from the two.

"_They're planning something and they sure as hell aren't being subtle about it,"_ He snarled to himself. He bit his tongue and didn't speak again, looking away from the two. He looked back at the Trackers to see if they were still standing still, his guess being correct. The three of them hadn't moved, and Lockson didn't bother to look at the boy again. Everyone except for Elaina made Gray uncomfortable, he hated this place. Just then, two doors flew open that peered into a stainless steel and spotless kitchen.

"Dinner is served, ladies and gentlemen!" The man cheered. He was a plump and smaller man with a mustache that pointed outward with a curved path. He wore an iconic chef outfit, poofy hat and all. Other waiters and waitresses emerged from the kitchen with plates covered with extravagant looking food. Elaina and Gray gasped at the sight of the delectable looking meal in front of them. Looking at the King and receiving a wave of approval, the two eagerly began chowing down.

The group made small talk that was much more enjoyable than their conversations before they started eating. Gray was still on edge and had a lesser appetite, so he ate a little bit less than he normally would have. No one needed to know that, though. After a little while of chatting the kitchen staff returned to collect their plates and start cleaning up the dining hall. Many thanks were heard from those at the table.

"Well, I think it's getting late, but it was wonderful to dine with you all. Elaina dear, you should head up to bed." He took note of the look she gave him. "We'll talk tomorrow over breakfast. Sound like a plan, champ?" She gave a small laugh at the childhood nickname.

"Okay, I'll leave you guys alone for the night. Gray, do you want me to show you back to the rooms? Sometimes it's hard to get around in the castle at night because it gets so dark." She offered. Gray was about to accept the offer gratefully before they were interrupted by Elaina's father.

"That won't be necessary, we just have to talk to Gray in private about some things first. It will be brief and he'll be escorted back to his room so neither of you is kept up too late." Elaina gave her father a confused look at the separation of the two. She looked at Gray, the faintest bit of distress crawling into her features. Gray gave her a pat on the arm.

"I'm all set, thanks for the offer though. Your old man's right, you should go get some rest." Gray suggested. He really didn't want her to leave, but he couldn't have a scene be made in front of her. If anything were to start and he was attacked, it would be his fault if the poor girl got hurt. She smiled sadly at him and didn't protest further.

"Alright, if you say so," she sighed. "Goodnight everyone, see you tomorrow Gray." She turned with a wave. The others giving a wave and goodnight call as well. As she left the dining hall Gray felt as if time were slowing down once the doors behind her closed, leaving him all alone with the rest of the King's staff.

Gray turned back around in his seat, an aggressive glare shown on his face. He sat back in his seat, arms crossed. No one dared to move at first. The tension in the air was so palpable, the chef could have sliced it in half. Everyone was frozen and the room was quiet until the King finally broke the silence.

"Well, it's good to finally meet you, Gray Fullbuster," The King offered. Gray was looking down, his eyes shadowed over by his hair. He gripped his arms tightly, shaking from rage as the King opened his mouth.

"We wanted to sit down and talk to you about some things that are coming up in the Kingdom here soon. We brought you here in hopes that you would help us with some personal matters that have arisen," He paused to take a sip of his drink and let Gray process his words, then continued.

"You see, we're well aware of your ice powers, boy. You are a very well-known name in Fiore, and word managed to get back to us here in Stardell. You are a strong mage with immense power, the power to control ice it seems. Am I right in saying that?" Gray simply gave a growl. That was more than enough for the King to know he was right. He leaned forward with his elbows on the table and crossed his hands together, resting his chin on them as he spoke.

"The Star Festival is an event we host each year in celebration of ancient and sacred history. That, and the celebration of the founding Queen of our Kingdom. Many years ago, sh–"

"I know what you're going to ask me and the answer is no." Gray cut him off. The room went silent as the others were taken aback by the boy's snappy remark. The King raised his brows, intrigued. He must have struck a nerve, he assumed. He leaned back in his seat again and laughed.

"My my, you are a feisty one after all. And I'm just so curious, what makes you so sure you know what we're planning to do with you, hm?" He prompted. Gray scoffed, lifting his head. He glanced sideways at the crooked king.

"A little birdy told me," He said pointedly. The King glowered at the boy. The King stared him down as a smile crawled onto his face.

"Clover, if you don't mind hun," The King said with a peppy tone, sending an evil grin in Gray's direction. The brown-haired girl smirked as her eyes glowed a radioactive shade of green.

"What are you, hey–!" Gray hollered as the wooden chair he was seated on began to grow and change. In an instant, thick roots grew out of the chair, locking his wrists to the arms of the chair. A pair of roots grew from behind him and suddenly wrapped around his stomach, trapping him in place. He struggled and wrestled with his restraints, the brown-haired woman giggling as she approached the king's seat. Her eyes ceased glowing as she walked toward them.

"Excellent my dear, this is perfect," he trailed off as he rose from his seat. Gray glared at the man.

"What do you want with me?" he demanded, grunting as he spoke as he continuously pulled at the binds that held him.

"Now, where was I," The King toyed with him, pretending to be deep in thought. "Ah, yes! Now I remember," he gushed while grabbing Gray's chin and yanking his neck forward uncomfortably.

"In four days, we are going to have the Star Festival. From the sounds of things, I'm sure you're already aware that it's the 500th-anniversary celebration as well. Our kingdom isn't quite as glorious as it used to be, so in order to make sure we are the strongest kingdom in all the lands, _you_ are going to resurrect our fallen queen." Gray's eyes went wide at this. These people didn't know what they were talking about, this could _kill _his citizens! Gray tried to pull away from the man, twisting his head from side to side. His struggles were fruitless as the King pushed his head against the back of the tall chair, locking his eyes on the boy.

"Resurrection is forbidden magic in Fiore and I don't know how to perform any kind of resurrection spell. I only use ice magic, I can't help you!" He countered firmly. The King glared down at him and whispered.

"Ah, that's where you're wrong, son." Gray felt his breath catch in his throat. What the hell were they planning then?

"What are you…?" Gray trailed off as the King started to laugh again. The King brought his leg up and put it against the wood on Gray's stomach, making it even harder for the boy to breathe. He gave a small grunt of discomfort but nothing more.

"We're well aware you don't use the dark arts. We don't care for the crummy spells you can use, what we're going to take is your magic core." Gray gave a sharp gasp at this. A wizards magic core is a combined essence of his magic and life forces. If they took that, he didn't even want to think about what would happen.

"At the Star Festival, we're going to turn you and your magic core into an ice lacrima. With your magic power, we will be able to use that to perform the ritual, sacrificing you for our queen instead." Gray sat there in shock, unable to speak or move. The King scoffed and tossed his head out of his hand. All Gray could do at that moment was stare at the floor, processing what they were going to do with him. The King smirked over his shoulder and turned back to the woman named Clover.

"Clover, if you could please?" The woman walked over and grabbed hold of Gray's left hand, pulling him out of his thoughts. Before Gray could ask what was about to happen, the woman hovered her free hand above his. Her eyes began to glow as she cast her spell. He saw a bright green light appear and saw what appeared to be an emblem glowing and printing itself onto his hand. He felt a weird tingling and tension coursed through his veins as she created the mark. Once she finished, he couldn't help but drop his head forward, breathing heavily for no reason.

"W-what...what did you d-do?" He asked through pants. Why was he so exhausted? His whole body felt like it was made of lead, and he was exponentially more tired than he had been before.

"We put a seal on your magic to reduce your chance of escape and to ensure you won't fight back during your time here. If no one else here uses magic anymore, why should you get to?" She said with a giggle as she turned and left. Gray was furious. He wanted nothing more than to kick these people's teeth in. The King turned to him.

"Just a few passing notes for you, ice-boy," Gray hissed at the nickname. "The night before the Star Festival we'll be having a rehearsal dinner for Elaina's wedding. At that event, Alex and Elaina will spend the evening together and you are _not_ to make a fool of the boy. You are not to go near them once that night." The King said as he grabbed a fist full of Gray's hair and yanked it upward. Gray gritted his teeth, being unable to leave his seat only made things worse.

"There will be high security all over the castle until the Star Festival and you will be under a watchful eye at all times."

"_Shit, that's bad. What the hell am I going to do?" _Gray muttered mentally.

"One last thing. I will say this once, Gray. You are to keep this conversation under wraps. If we catch wind of this from anyone else in the castle, well, let's just say," The King leaned in to whisper the last part directly in his ear. "No one would be able to find your body no matter how hard they looked." Gray felt a shiver run down his spine, fearing the consequences of the man's words greatly. The King pulled away, leaving a shocked Gray staring at him as he parted.

"Ferya, take the boy back to his room please." With that, the king and his two council members rose and left the dining hall. Lockson and Clover bot teleported off somewhere as the red-haired man approached the exhausted boy. With Clover's departure so went the binds that held Gray causing him to fall forward and almost out of his seat. Two hands caught him, one placed on his back and the other pushing on his chest. Gray could barely keep his eyes open, tensing up for fear of being attacked again.

"I'm not going to hurt you. You should try your best to relax, though." Gray was surprised, it was the same man who knocked him out and took him while Natsu and Rexile were battling at his apartment. Gray was feeling so many emotions and didn't even know where to start. All he could do was stare up at the man, completely bewildered by his severe contrast in character.

"Why…?" Gray wheezed out. Damn, he was beyond exhausted.

"Out of the four Trackers, I am the healer of the group. The King generally has me tend to folks like you or townsfolk who we find out are hurt." Gray was puzzled at this, he thought only Wendy could use healing magic. Then again, this was an entirely different world. Anything was possible he guessed, he hardly knew anything about this place if he was being honest with himself. He felt the man help push him back to lean against the back of the chair.

"Thanks," he whispered. Leaning his head back to rest for a moment. The two were quiet for a few minutes.

"If you're a healer," Gray thought aloud. "You like to help people, right?" Ferya nodded in response. "If you like helping people, why did you take me here?" he croaked out. He was trying so hard to stay awake but talking was beginning to become difficult. It must be a side effect of the spell the girl cast on him earlier. The capping off of his magic must be what was tiring him out. Ferya looked away, a crestfallen look on his face.

"I don't like what the King wants to do with you. In fact, I think it's an extremely foolish idea entirely." The red-haired man closed his eyes and crossed his arms in thought. "That being said, he is my King and I have to obey his orders. I would be a traitor to my kingdom if I chose to go against him. I don't like what I have to do, but I hope you can somehow understand."

"Understand being ripped away from my home? Yeah, like I can get behind that," Gray scoffed viciously. There was nothing to understand. He was being held captive and was going to be sacrificed for something that nobody even knew was going to work or not. Ferya was quiet, neither of them said anything for a few minutes.

"I'm sorry, I wish I could help. I know you're in pain, but–" Gray threw his fist up and grabbed the man by his shirt, drawing him mere inches from his face.

"Then just let me _go already!" _He screamed. He wanted nothing more than to kiss the ground's of Magnolia right now. To set foot inside of Fairy Tail and never leave again. What he wouldn't give to be with his friends, his _family_. He would go to the ends of the Earth if it meant he could see them again.

"I will never stop fighting. Not here, not _ever_. If you think I won't fight to leave this wretched place until I draw my very last breath, you are sorely mistaken." Gray snarled.

Ferya stared into Gray's eyes, they stayed like that for a while. Ferya finally reached up and took Gray's hand, gently laying it in his lap. He stayed looking at Gray's hand for a minute.

"You really are a–"

"I swear to god I will skin the next person that calls me feisty,"

"That isn't what I was going to say." Gray scowled and looked directly at the man.

"Then what the hell _were_ you going to say?" Ferya was not phased by Gray's hostility. Instead, he smiled at the ice wizard.

"I was going to say, you certainly are a fighter. I don't need to know much more about you to say that confidently." The scowl melted from Gray's face, turning instead to a more puzzled look.

"Your eyes say it all young man. You are a wizard with a grand heart. I'm sure your friends would agree with me on that," Gray furrowed his brows at the mention of home again, closing his eyes to push the pain away. After gazing into the young man's eyes, he could see this man's pain. His heartache and longing to be home and held by his friends and family. To smell the seas, walk through the fields, and breathe in the air that came from where he belonged. Ferya knew he couldn't undo the sins of his King. But, what kind of healer would he be if he could only heal physical ailments?

"Let's call a truce for now. Just you and me," Gray's eyes shot up to the man like he had grown a second head. Gray smirked at the man and grabbed his hand again.

"Thank you," he sighed, just in time to collapse forward from exhaustion. Ferya caught him, and smiled down at the boy.

"You may be what this Kingdom has needed all along, Gray," Ferya whispered to himself. He scooped the boy up and left the dining hall. A shadow shifted outside of the window, revealing a cloak flowing by in the breeze of the night. The figure raised his hand to an earpiece and pulled farther from the edge of the window.

"Catch all of that, Erza?" A dark-haired man whispered.

"_Loud and clear, Gajeel. You can head out and return to base." _Gajeel grinned to himself. He hopped down from the edge of the window sill, being caught by a small creature and flying off into the night sky.

"Nice job, Pantherlily," Gajeel spoke quietly up to the black feline on his back.

"My pleasure. Now, what do we do with all of that information?" The cat asked his comrade. Gajeel placed his hand to his ear again.

"Erza, now that we have all of that info, how does that change our game plan?" There was silence for a second.

"_We need to get to the castle and sneak Gray out. I've got a couple of ideas already, but we'll start the real planning tomorrow once you two are back here."_

"Right," Gajeel and Pantherlily replied in unison.

"Well hey, Gray's attitude is still as strong as ever," Pantherlily noted receiving a low laugh from his partner. The smile quickly fading away into an expression showing deep thought.

"As true as that might be, I don't like the sounds of the threats that King was making to him. The wedding is definitely a ruse to distract the citizens, and it sounds like that's when they're going to turn Gray into a lacrima. We still don't know what's so important about this queen though," Gajeel trailed off.

"Erza, what do you know about the queen and the history of this place? Have any of you found anything else out?" Once Gajeel and Pantherlily sped off into the city the rest of their team continued traveling. They were about a day out by foot and had made good progress during their first day of traveling. One they set up camp for the night, they pulled out some books Makarov had sent along with them to see what else they could figure out in preparation for entering the town.

"_Yes, we did. We discovered information about the kind of magic they used and why their queen was so important while she was alive."_

"Alright, tell me what you guys got. We've got a bit more to go before we get back to base, so start filling us in now." Gajeel said with a grin. He was ready to get into the castle and kick some serious ass.

"_Well for starters, the people of Stardell all use a sacred kind of magic that is not used in Fiore. We don't know why, but my guess is that it has something to do with the blockage between our worlds. They use magic called life magic. It sounds like it's similar to maker magic like the ice magic Gray uses." _Gajeel and Pantherlily both raised a brow at this.

"_From what we've read so far, life magic gives the user strong control over wildlife and nature. They can also shift and bring to life objects that are created from things of similar elements."_

"So, that explains why they're elemental mages. All of the elements they can control can be found in the wild created by nature, is that what you're sayin'?" Gajeel questioned.

"_Precisely, there's more to it though. When we read up a couple of days ago about the ice tracker that was trying to track down Gray, we found out its weakness was water. So, it's possible that the opposite element of the Trackers magic could be their weakness."_

"Damn, that's inconvenient. Was there anything else?"

"_Nothing on their magic that we've read or figured out so far. We also read a lot about their queen. Apparently, she was a very powerful wizard when she founded the kingdom. For some reason, she was able to control all of the elements each individual tracker can control. All of them except for ice, which explains why she froze over when she died. That's why there isn't any ice to be found in the kingdom."_

"Wait, are you saying she created this whole kingdom herself?"

"_That's exactly what I'm saying."_

"What?!" Gajeel and Pantherlily boy yelled. Each of them looked at each other and gave them a hard "Shh!" Erza could be heard laughing on the other end of the radio.

"_I think they want to resurrect their queen solely to control her powers. For all we know, those individualized trackers might not have existed back when she was alive. Her death could have had some sort of effect on the people in the kingdom, causing the inability for people to possess multiple elemental styles of magic."_

"So if she couldn't use ice, why would they want to put more ice into her with Gray? That doesn't make sense,"

"_Don't worry Gajeel, you're not the only one who's confused!"_ Natsu hollered through the earpiece. With a loud thump and a screech, Gajeel chuckled knowing that Erza had just knocked the kid across their base.

"_Anyways, I think they must be doing something with the other trackers. They might need a balance of all of the elements to unthaw her and bring back to life."_

"Why wouldn't they have used the ice tracker? Why do they need an outside source? There might be more to this than we thought so far,"

"_Or we were wrong about the first tracker," _Erza concluded. That had come up in conversation a couple of times.

"Then what is that guy? He can't be water, because if Gray attacked him he could have killed him on the spot. We already know there's a healer, a grass user, and some type of earth user from what Pantherily and I saw that girl do with the chair."

"_Well Gray did say there was an explosion, so Natsu thinks–"_

"_I THINK HE'S A FIRE WIZARD LIKE ME! I'M GONNA LIGHT HIM UP AND SHOW HIM WHO'S THE BOSS!"_ Gajeel could hear Natsu cackling like a mad-man in the background of the call.

"So, we've got a healer, grass, earth, and potentially fire. If that's the case, it makes a lot more sense that they would have needed Gray."

"_We can't say that for certain. Ice doesn't make sense, but we aren't sure about fire yet, either. We're going to need to do some more research tomorrow once we settle into a hotel in town. To be frank, this man's powers are so mysterious, I'm worried he might be more powerful than we've seen so far."_ Gajeel scowled at the thought.

"Gajeel, I'm going to lower us down, I can see the campsite up ahead." Gajeel nodded at the feline as they descended from the air

"We're almost back, we'll pick this up tomorrow though."

"_Sounds good, we'll see you two soon."_

"Roger that," Gajeel answered, reaching up to shut off his earpiece.

To be honest, they really hadn't interacted with the trackers enough to know the full extent of their powers. Gajeel walked back to the camp deep in thought and would be kept up thinking late into the night. They were also running on some old information and a lot of assumptions. They needed to get to town fast tomorrow. With the wedding being only four days away, they needed to act fast if they wanted to bring save Gray.

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Leave a review and your thoughts, thanks. More editing to come tomorrow. I'm posting this pretty late, so I won't be surprised if I stumble across a good chunk of typos.


	9. Chapter 9: A Promise Kept

The sun shone brightly over the horizon as our Fairy Tail members rose from their slumber. Natsu once again being the first one up and ready to go, he and Happy hopped a few feet away from the others, antsy to get moving again.

"C'mon slowpokes! Let's get a move on!" He pushed impatiently.

"Aye team!" Happy shouted next to the salmon-haired boy. Erza and the others chuckled at their enthusiasm, glad that Natsu was acting more like himself again compared to the other night. It wasn't like the Dragon Slayer to mope around.

"We're goin' we're goin, stop yelling over there!" Lucy hollered back aggressively.

"Maybe if you didn't have so much junk Lucy ya wouldn't be such a slow packer," Happy teased.

"Shut up, stupid cat!" She yelled at the giggling ball of blue fur that was floating its way back over to Natsu. Once everyone was packed up, Natsu and Happy jumped for joy as the crew began moving toward the Kingdom again. Everyone was in the midst of their own conversations. Natsu, Lucy, and Happy were at the front of the pack discussing their plans for when they reached the kingdom.

"So Natsu, I know we aren't at the kingdom yet, but how do you think we should handle tracking down Gray?" Natsu looked up in thought, walking with his hands behind his head.

"Well, that's a good question Luce," he trailed off. Happy sat on his head, a paw under his chin deep in thought. "What do we know about the castle again?"

"Well, there are four primary pieces it seems. First is the outer wall to the city surrounding the castle. Next, the entire city. Third is the wall surrounding the castle. Then there's the castle itself. I can only imagine there's going to be a ton of property within the castle walls though, so finding Gray won't exactly be a walk in the park."

"Well then, we'll just have to barge in and take the place by stor– _gah!"_ Natsu cried out as Lucy's fist slammed down onto his head, leaving a massive red welt behind.

"Hey...what was that for Lucy?" Natsu whimpered.

"Natsu, have you already forgotten what we heard that King jerk say to Gray last night? We can't just storm the castle, they'll kill him if we do. They'll know we found out their plan and think Gray snitched to us, and he doesn't even know we're here yet," Losing the fire in her voice, Lucy looked to the ground. A disheartened look appeared on her face.

"I know you want to save Gray, but we can't chance any screw-ups on this mission. We have to plan this out. Promise me you won't do anything reckless, please Natsu?" She pleaded, her voice barely above a whisper. Natsu smiled at the Celestial wizard at his side.

"Don't worry Lucy, I promise I'll be careful." They smiled at each other, Lucy sighing as they broke eye contact.

"Oh, hey! I just remembered!" Lucy cried out as she grabbed Natsu's arm catching the boy off guard.

"Woah! What now Lucy?" Happy asked curiously.

"The rehearsal dinner! Royal families always invite people from the surrounding area to events like that. My Dad always did when he threw parties when I was growing up, it's a way to display status to potential competitors and business partners. If this is a king we're talking about, I have no doubt a bunch of the people in town and from the surrounding areas will be invited to the dinner and the wedding!" Natsu grinned at the girl, picking up on her idea.

"So you're saying all we gotta do is sneak in there and we can get Gray out of there?"

"Well, not entirely, but if we can enter the castle and sneak into the dinner party, we can start to infiltrate that way." They had stopped walking and caught the rest of their team's attention by this point.

"I like where you're going with this Lucy," Erza praised, crossing her arms. "We'll need to rethink our strategy once we enter the town and get settled in a hotel."

"I think tonight, Natsu and I should go to the castle and try to find out if they have tickets of any kind or a guest list we can sneak our names onto. We could be the only two to go, but if we can get inside and do some work, we might be able to find a way to distract them or stop their plan." Lucy's eyes panned up to the sky briefly, seeing the sun was directly above them.

"If we're going to do this tonight, we need to get to the castle quickly. We have to figure out how to get invitations to the party." Natsu and Happy looked to each other happily, clearly having an idea in mind. Natsu spun around to look at Wendy.

"Wendy, I've got an idea. Can you cast Vernier on me and Lucy?" Wendy raised her brows nervously at this.

"Uh, sure Natsu, but how come?"

"If Lucy and I have to get to the castle by nightfall, Happy can carry the two of us and he can fly a lot faster if we're lighter." Lucy and Happy smiled widely at the idea.

"Oh, okay! I'm happy to help then!" She smiled.

"Alright, so you two will head to the castle, and we'll make way for the hotel in town. Lucy, you've got that walkie talkie still?"

"Yup, right here!" She pulled a small earpiece similar to the one Gajeel had been seen wearing the night before. She attached it to her ear, clicking a small button on the side and hearing a ding to indicate it was on. She smiled confidently.

"Alright, be sure to update us as you go along, we'll get into town as soon as possible."

"Right!" The three cheered in unison. Wendy stepped back to prepare to cast the spell on her two friends.

"_O swift wind that dashes through the heavens!...Vernier!"_ A spell circle appeared beneath Natsu and Lucy's feet, lifting them into the air. Natsu chuckled, remembering how much he liked this spell.

"Man, I forgot how cool this one is! Thanks, Wendy!"

"Woah, I feel so light all of a sudden! What did the spell do?"

"My Sky-Dragon Slayer magic lets me cast a spell to significantly lower your weight. You'll be able to move faster, and you'll be lighter, making it much easier for Happy to carry you both." The bluenette said clasping her hands together and smiling.

"Wendy that's incredible! Thanks a ton!" Lucy applauded, clasping her hands together and putting them up against her cheeks. She, Natsu, and Happy looked at each other with determination and took to the skies.

"You think they're gonna get spotted or anything?" Gajeel asked Erza.

"No, I think they'll be alright. I would be worried if Natsu were by himself, but Lucy seems to know a thing or two about these castles. I trust that she and Natsu will carry out their mission and turn up tonight in one piece." Gajeel smirked, admiring the faith Erza had in her friends. She was right though, Salamander, Blondie, and the blue fur ball would be just fine together. With that, the crew made haste for the city.

Up overhead and moving swiftly, Lucy, Natsu, and Happy bolted to the castle overhead. The buildings quickly becoming closer and gaining more detail by the second. Eventually, they got within close enough range where they decided to descend closer to the ground, to avoid the risk of being seen prematurely.

"This is going so much faster than it would have if we walked, good thinking guys!" Happy hollered over the loud sound of wind gushing past their ears.

"And I'm not motion sick for once, this is great! Woohoo!" Natsu hollered, throwing his arms in the air and sending his legs forward like he was on an imaginary roller coaster. Lucy laughed with the two. They flew for about an hour, Happy was amazed at his stamina with how weightless the two beneath him felt. The outer wall appeared clearly into view as the team of three dashed through the woods.

"Hey guys, we're close enough to the city, we should walk the rest of the way," Lucy suggested. Natsu and Happy nodded and the three slowed down to settle on the ground behind the grassy hill. Brushing themselves off of grass and other light debris that had flown into their clothing on their trip to the castle, the three looked at the castle walls exuberantly.

"Yes, we made it!" Natsu cheered pumping a fist into the air. "Now, we gotta head on inside and start lookin' for some tickets. Right, Lucy?" Lucy nodded assuredly. The three walked a bit farther and entered the castle walls.

They were in awe of the life springing forth from the city. Wherever you looked, there was something lively going on. Merchants sprawled around the town trading and selling goods to the folks who stopped by, children running around with toys and playing games in the plazas nearby, and the animals and greenery were even more beautiful here than in the forest. The birds sang to the people, squirrels, and chipmunks could be seen running around playing with the kids, and Natsu even pointed out a mother deer and her fawn drinking from a pond near the edge of town. It was absolutely magical, they couldn't believe their eyes.

"It looks like its early afternoon right now. maybe we can stop and get something to eat before we keep going?" Both boys eyes turned into hearts at the mention of food and started flailing around like madmen.

"Okay, okay! We'll find a restaurant to visit before we go to the castle." The three made their way farther into town and eventually found a cute cafe to stop at. It was called the "Starside Cafe" and Lucy was gushing over how precious the place was. Natsu and Happy were just excited to eat some good food, and they all eagerly made their way inside.

The hostess checked them in and asked where they wanted to sit, all in agreement of sitting outside at a patio table. They ordered their drinks and chatted for a little while. Lucy ordered a glass of tropical iced tea, Natsu ordered a glass of soda, and Happy got a cup of water. After a little while, another waitress came back and they each put in their orders.

"I'll have the Roasted Turkey Breast Sandwich with a side salad, and he'll get a dish of the smoked salmon with no sides," Natsu ordered for he and Happy eagerly, oblivious to the confused face on the waitress as she stared at Happy.

"A-alright," writing down the two orders quickly and turning away from the strange duo who were already chatting together, the waitress turned to Lucy. Lucy giggled as there was clear relief on her face to not see another talking cat at the table.

"Can I please have the Mediterranean Salad?" The waitress nodded her head with a smile.

"Of course! I'll go put those in right away folks," The waitress declared merrily.

"Thank you!" The party of three chanted together. They spent a bit more time chatting together while they waited for their food.

"So, how do you want to start looking for Gray after we finish up here?" Natsu asked his two teammates in a hushed voice. She leaned her head on the top of her hand in thought. She wasn't totally sure herself about where to even begin. They couldn't just storm the castle and tell them to hand Gray over. They needed to be methodical about this to ensure Gray's safety. Failure was not an option on this mission. They needed to find a way to get a direct invite to the wedding, but how on earth were they going to get tickets?

"Hmm, maybe Gemini could help us? Yeah, wait a minute! I think I have an idea!" Lucy squealed. "If we can find out who's handing out tickets, Gemini can just turn into them and grab us a set of tickets or write our names on the invite list! It's perfect!" Natsu and Happy grinned at their newfound plan, Lucy looked hesitant at Happy.

"Although, maybe it'll be best if Natsu and I go alone to dinner. We don't know how these guys will respond to magic yet. As far as I can tell, unless you've picked something up Natsu, I don't really sense a lot of magic around here," She said, looking out into the streets surrounding the restaurant.

"Yeah Lucy you're right, there's next to no magic around here. That's weird, any idea why that might be?"

"Well, we overheard that lady said something about "if no one here uses magic anymore" through Gajeel's earpiece. Maybe magic is reserved for the army and the royal family like it was in Edolas?" Natsu nodded at the idea, looking down in thought. As they were about to continue their conversation, the waitress came back with their food. Smiles appeared on their faces as their plates were set in front of them.

"Aw man, this is awesome!" Natsu hollered, chowing down on the meal immediately

"It may be awesome, but nothing could top Mira's cooking back at home." Lucy challenged.

"Aye, sir!" Happy agreed strongly with a mouth full of fish. The three continued eating and picked up their conversation where they left off.

"So you want to get Gemini into the castle to snag us some invites, is that what you're saying?" Lucy nodded. Natsu smirked at them, a determined gleam shone in his eyes.

"Alright, welp! We'd better get a move on." He said as he rose from his seat. Leaving enough money for their meal and a tip, the party of three departed from the restaurant and made their way through the town once again.

The town here was just as busy as Magnolia was during the summer season. As Natsu, Happy, and Lucy navigated their way through the congested streets of Stardell, Natsu started to lose his patience. They coursed through the crowds carefully, when Natsu suddenly picked up a familiar scent. He grabbed Lucy's arm with his right hand and covered his mouth with his left, looking around the perimeter.

"Natsu, what's the matter?" Natsu was bug-eyed and scanning the area. He leaned close to Lucy's ear and kept his voice as low as he could.

"Don't make any sudden moves, but I think I just picked up Gray's scent. It's strong and it's fresh, he's got to be near here somewhere." Lucy and Happy's mouths opened in shock at this. Natsu let go of Lucy's arm and started to walk forward again, his teammates hot on his heels. Natsu subtly sniffed the air and moved forward, picking up his pace with each step. He stopped at a four-way intersection flooded with people and merchants and snapped his head to the left. He looked back to Lucy and Happy who gasped at the sight up on the hill ahead of them.

"The castle, that's got to be where they're hiding him. C'mon, let's go!" Natsu waved an arm as his teammates nodded in response, and they all made way for the castle.

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Gray felt like shit, to put it kindly. Ferya had healed him after Rexile attacked him in his apartment a couple of nights ago, so the following morning he didn't feel any lingering pains or aches. Last night Gray just remembered passing out, he didn't recall anything that happened after that. To be frank, the whole dinner party was a bit hazy for him at the moment.

Sitting up in bed, his whole body felt as if it were made out of weights. He put his hand to his head, his temples were throbbing. His neck was stiff as hell, turning it either way to test his limits. He looked ahead and squinted to read the time on his clock.

"6:00 AM, huh?" He was definitely going back to sleep or at least staying in bed for another few hours. He slowly plopped himself back down onto his back and pulled his blankets up. The muscles in his sides and stomach ached, so he wound up flopping backwards onto the bed with a thud. He noticed he wasn't wearing his clothes from last night at dinner, but a black pair of silk pajamas this time. He shuddered, swearing to himself that he would not pass out before he got back to his room from now on. He sighed, remembering bits and pieces of last night's events as his brain slowly filled in the blanks on what the King had said to him. He lifted his hand and held it above his face.

"Four days left," he whispered to himself. It was Wednesday, so he had today, and then Thursday, Friday, and Saturday to figure out how to escape or stop the King. He rolled onto his side, not sure what to feel other than sore. If he was being honest with himself, he wasn't going to get back to sleep. No matter how hard he tried to shove it away, he couldn't ignore that fact that his brain was going a million miles an hour. He wasn't sure if he was glad he knew the answer to so many of his original questions. He closed his eyes only to feel the pace of his thoughts flying by even faster, so he sat up again and decided to go to the bathroom and get dressed for the day.

He threw his legs off the side of his bed and lowered himself to stand only for his legs to give out, causing him to collapse onto the carpet along the sides of his bed. He fell with a thump and groaned. He looked at the emblem on his hand, realizing why he was so exhausted.

"_This damn magic blocker is making me so weak, this sucks!" _Gray growled to himself, gritting his teeth as he struggled to stand again. He walked his hands along the wall and other pieces of furniture and finally made his way into his bathroom.

He showered and went through his usual routine. He dug a bit more through all of the clothes in his room and found an outfit he could call feel a little more at home in. He found a black v-neck t-shirt that he wore underneath a maroon short-sleeve button-up shirt. He had a dark blue one similar to this at home, so his homesickness was alleviated for the moment. He paired the outfit with a pair of short khaki cargo pants that cinched a few inches above his ankles. He wore a pair of black slip-on sneakers and wore a black leather watch on his wrist.

He looked at himself in one of the mirrors in his room. He had looked worse, sure, but he had definitely seen better days. Beneath his eyes hung dark bags from a lack of sleep and an inconsistent sleep schedule. He leaned his elbows forward onto the vanity he was standing in front of and rested his eyes on the palms of his hands. He tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes, hoping to wake himself up a little bit more, but quickly found it didn't make a difference.

He'd be much better off if they hadn't locked his magic away from him. He couldn't really be surprised they finally did something like that, though. He was a captive after all, as pissed off as the thought made him. He looked down at his left hand, clenching his fist and glaring at the emblem. He was furious, to put it lightly. He relaxed his hands and took and breath.

"_Sitting here and pouting isn't going to solve anything. Maybe I should go for a walk,"_ He pondered, he hadn't seen much of the property outside of his balcony. Getting a scope of his surroundings might prove to be useful.

He shut the lights off in his room and went to leave. He left his room and heard a metallic shuffling to his right. He looked over to the descending staircase and saw two guards stationed outside of his room at the base of the stairs. He didn't care to deal with them, not now at least. It was six in the morning and he was simultaneously exhausted and wide awake. They both turned around to face him.

" , what are you doing awake at this hour?" One of the guards questioned. Gray simply sighed, sticking his hands in his pockets passively as he walked down the stairs toward them.

"I could be asking you two the same thing, creeps," he smirked as they drew their weapons. He rolled his eyes at the two.

"Lighten up, I'm not going to fight you. I couldn't sleep, so I was going to go for a walk and get some coffee or something. There's no use laying in bed doing nothing, so I just need to go burn off some energy so I can try to get some rest later today or something," He shrugged. It really wasn't that big a deal. He continued to walk past the two guards. They were confused at his answers for whatever reason, but he couldn't care less at the moment.

"But, wait–!" one of them called to him. Gray gave a wave over his shoulder.

"I'll be back later, don't worry about it," he muttered just loud enough for the guards to hear. The two men looked back and forth between Gray and each other. One gulped nervously and looked at his comrade.

"D-do you think we're going to get in trouble with the king?" he stuttered. The second man sighed and placed a hand to his head.

"Well as long as the kid doesn't do anything stupid, I sure as hell hope not. Guess we don't need to stand around here anymore then, the kid had the right idea with grabbing a cuppa' joe though," The other guard looked at him eagerly as they made their way away from the ice-wizards quarters.

Up ahead, Gray walked heavily through the halls. The longer he walked, the further he realized how beat he really was. Coffee was first on his list before he went for a walk, that errand was not up for debate. He made his way to the dining hall and hoped to find a housemaid or someone from the kitchen. He happened to run into Madeleine again and gave a holler to her.

"Miss Madeleine! It's Gray!" He said with a wave as he jogged up to the friendly woman.

"Oh, good morning Gray. It's so early, what are you doing up at this hour? Shouldn't you be getting some rest?" He smiled and shook his head at her.

"I tried, believe me. I woke up and couldn't fall back asleep and I didn't feel like lying around in bed all day, so I wanted to get some coffee and go for a walk. Do you guys have a coffee pot anywhere around here I could use?" Gray asked politely. Courtesy wasn't exactly his forte, but he could be a gentleman when he needed to be. Plus, Elaina and this woman were the only two souls he trusted in this godforsaken kingdom. They both deserved every ounce of his patience and respect for treating him so well in the last two days. Madeleine nodded at him.

"Oh, we do! We've got a cute coffee bar back here in the kitchen. Come with me and I'll make you a cup," she offered with a smile. Gray smiled and shook his head, this woman was too kind.

They both entered the kitchen that was bursting with people and noise. As he went to step foot in the kitchen, one of the chefs ran past him with a giant platter in hand. Causing Gray to jump and gasp, he put a hand to his chest and let out a breath. Madeleine saw this and chuckled, understanding his reaction to the morning routine of chaos.

"Don't mind them, the mornings here are always quite busy. They're a lot of fun once everyone gets going though!" She chirped.

"You guys do seem like you enjoy the work you get to do here, it makes being in this part of the castle really enjoyable."

"Yes, it truly is. We're all very lucky we have such a wonderful place to do our business. It hardly feels like work to be honest with you," She smiled. Gray could feel how genuine her words were. It was refreshing to be around someone who felt so human. It reminded him of home all over again. He bit the inside of his cheek to hold in any reactions and push the thoughts to the back of his mind.

Eventually, they completed their unintentional tour of the kitchen. They wound up having to walk around a lot of things, so Gray got a quick peek at all of the cool appliances they use to bake and cook for the families here. He liked cooking simple things for himself, but this kitchen was in a whole other ballpark.

They walked through a door on one of the back walls and entered a short hallway that led to a patio outside. Gray gasped and looked out across the property. The Patio had motes of crystal clear water wrapping around it that flowed throughout the garden. In the center of the field the patio looked out over, a pong was seated in the center. It was lined with stones of various kinds with lily pads and animals lounging around the water itself. Animals could be seen wandering around the yard minding their business. It seemed that everywhere you turned, life was flooding through the castle. It was beautiful to experience, and one of the few things Gray appreciated about this place. Madeleine made him a cup of coffee and herself a cup of tea and they both sat out at the Patio.

"How did your conversation with the King go? Elaina was very worried about you," Gray looked down to the ground, a glazed look in his eyes.

"She has every right to be," he whispered, receiving a quizzical look from the housekeeper across from him. "I'm sorry, I'm not allowed to talk about my conversation with the King from last night. I would rather you two forget about it."Gray requested sadly. Madeleine smiled at him, taking a sip of her tea.

"What did his men do to you this time?" Gray froze. His head snapped up to meet a cold, cruel gaze in her eyes. This woman was smarter than he had given her credit for. He just hung his mouth open, he couldn't figure out what to say, he didn't know where to start. She put her tea down and leaned forward across the table and whispered to him evilly.

"If you think I _don't_ know what he's up to, I have good news for you sweetheart. I'm well aware of those Trackers he orders around as well as his foolish plan to marry off his daughter to benefit himself. He isn't very subtle, most men aren't though," she shrugged like it was no big deal. Gray ripped himself from his shock and grabbed one of her wrists. She gave him a sly side glance.

"What do you know about him?" Gray asked in a hushed, but urgent tone. He needed to keep calm, it was risky enough that he had let this conversation go on this long. But, he _needed_ to find out what he could do to get out of here.

"I know more than I'm able to say right now. But, I can give you a small handful of advice. For starters, your friends are already here in Stardell." Gray put a hand over his mouth at this, Madeleine grabbed his other hand in support. She spoke even quieter. "Don't draw attention to yourself, focus son." He nodded, feeling a rush of emotions knowing his friends had already come for him so quickly. He couldn't wait for Natsu to light this place up when he found his best friend.

"Second, that emblem on your hand can be destroyed by a fire wizard, which, from what the Trackers have told us, your pink-haired friend should be able to take care of. It will be very painful. He will need to hold your hand down and burn the entire emblem off." Gray cringed at the painful thought but knew it needed to be done. Whatever it took to free himself was worth it in his eyes.

"Lastly, whether your escape here or your friends rescue you, you mustn't let the King steal your magic core and resurrect the founding queen. Her return will tarnish our kingdom and its people in more ways than one. Think you can remember those three things?" Gray nodded fiercely at the request. The comfort of knowing his friends were there was more than enough for him to feel his inner fire reignite itself. The two went to rise from their seats, Gray smiling at her and receiving a nod in return. She returned to the kitchen to go back to her work, while Gray walked back to his room with his cup of coffee in hand. He checked his clock again.

"Only 6:56? Geez, I need to finish this and go out and find something to do," he sighed as he rolled his eyes and flopped back onto his bed. He laid there for only a second before he shot back up.

"_The book! How could I forget about the book?!" _He felt his heart race at a million miles an hour. He carefully hopped off his bed and spun the mattress so he could access the book. The ice seal was no longer present because his magic was being blocked off by the seal Clover placed on him. He reached inside and pulled the book out and placed it on his bed, quickly locking his front and balcony doors before sitting down again.

"_This thing has to have some answers in it, it's definitely worth a shot at least."_ He scowled determinedly at the book. He curled up in bed with his coffee and began reading the entire book. He had found a pen and a notebook inside one of his end tables and decided to take notes as well.

A few hours later he finished the book. Sure, being overwhelmed was one way to put how he felt, but that didn't even begin to summarize everything he was feeling. Did this King have any idea what this would do to his kingdom? If he was understanding this book correctly, everything in the Queen's path would be destroyed. The King wouldn't be able to control her once she was brought back to life. She would not view the kingdom as anything more than a sea of enemies blocking her trail. He laid back against his headboard, thoughts running rapidly through his mind. He somehow managed to fall back asleep after sometime laying there. A while later he blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes with his palms. He slowly sat up and squinted at the clock at his vanity.

"Damn, 11:49 already? That definitely killed a good chunk of time," His voice sliding into a yawn, he stretched his arms high above his head and pointed his legs forward. He still felt a bit achy, but he felt better than he had a few hours ago. He decided to go for a walk to let his brain really soak up everything he had just read. He put the book back inside his mattress and hid it once again. He left his room happy to see no guards outside just as when he'd reentered earlier that morning. He made his way down the stairs and decided to explore a bit more of the town beyond the walls. Who knows, maybe he might run into something good today?

Once he was past the stairs he walked forward and turned right to encounter a large set of white double doors. He leaned all his weight on one of them as it slowly slid open. The sun was shining brightly in the cloudless sky. He took a cautious look around. After seeing no guards and hearing no footsteps, he took a few steps forward. He continued to glance around carefully until he was a few yards ahead of the main entrance. He stopped and let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding in. He started walking forward toward the town to try and clear his head.

"Gray! Wait up!" He stopped and spun on his heel to see two girls running up to him again. It was Elaina and Lauren again.

"Morning guys, what's up?" They stopped in front of him, panting from running all the way down the hallway and out of the castle to catch him.

"We wanted to see how you were doing silly," Lauren teased with her hands on her hips. She earned a chuckle from Gray. Elaina nodded next to him, not quite as chipper as her blonde haired best friend.

"We should go somewhere private and talk about last night, how did everything go?" Gray was avoiding her eyes, he remembered what the King said all too well from the previous night. He felt bad not being able to tell the girls what had happened, but the less harm he could bring to them, the better.

"Elaina, I can't talk about last night. Strict orders from your father are forcing me to keep the conversation under wraps." He said with a flat, cold tone. Elaina scowled at him while a perplexed look made its way onto Lauren's face.

"Is that so," Elaina thought out loud while staring at Gray. She reached for his hand and spun on her heel in the opposite direction they were headed before and dragged Gray back toward the castle, earning a squeak from the boy.

"Hey– uh...Elaina, I was kind of in the middle of...can you let go of me?" He said trying to pry her hand from his wrist.

"Nope! I have a better idea! We can always take you into town later. We'll go after lunch or something this afternoon." She chirped. Elaina shifted her hand from his wrist to his hand, smiling over her shoulder at the dark-haired boy.

"_This girl is something else," _Gray sighed and laughed to himself.

The party made their way to the right side of the castle and continued into the woods. Gray looked around at the enormous trees and floral life surrounding them. Eventually, they passed a set of white brick walls that came to a gate in the woods. There was no one around, but the bottom right corner of the two wooden gates had a break in it. It looked like a tunnel for a small person to crawl through. Elaina let go of his hand and tossed her backpack over top of the gate.

"Elaina, where are we going?" Gray questioned curiously. She smiled at him and put one finger to her lips. He nodded back, getting the idea.

"_Sneaking out, eh? What a typical teen daughter thing to do,_" Gray noted to himself.

Elaina crawled through first, then Lauren, then Gray wiggled through the gates. He stood up and brushed himself off. He turned to look at the gates again to see the brick and wood were covered with vines and moss. It almost appeared abandoned.

"This used to be a main entrance to the kingdom, and there's one on the left side of the castle too. Because of construction that happened when we were really little, they don't use this gate anymore. It basically turned into a secret hideout for me and my friends whenever they come over."

"What kind of things are back here? Like a treehouse, or a trail, or…?" He trailed of. Lauren and Elaina grinned excitedly at one another.

"Even better, there's a giant lake we love to go swimming during the summer! The water this time of year is crystal clear, it's absolutely gorgeous Gray!" Lauren exclaimed. Elaina nodded confidently. The three started walking and made conversation along the way. They had each other laughing to the point of tears in no time as they made their way to the pond. They wriggled their way through a thick patch of branches and vines before entering a clearing of pure blue water. Gray gasped at the heavenly sight, it was incredible. The small lake was surrounded by patches of flowers and there were rocks scattered tastefully on its shores. There were dozens of different colored fish swimming through the lake the nearby river that flowed into the lake. There were turtles and frogs on the rocks nearby, and tons of birds in the forest ahead of them. The flowers were filled with dragonflies and different species of butterflies as well.

Elaina and Lauren walked to their left where a dirt path resumed and set their things down on a smooth topped rock. Lauren wore a pair of black flowy shorts with a maroon tank top. Her hair was tied in a bun atop her head, while a tribal printed hairband held her hair out of her face. Elaina wore a pair of high waisted light wash denim shorts with a loose-fitting, pastel yellow crop top. Her hair was done in two side braids that sat right above her shoulders. Gray realized in that moment he didn't have anything to swim in. He went to open his mouth as Elaina hucked a pair of shorts at his face. He pulled them off to see they were from the brand "Nautica" and had three stripes on them colored navy blue, light blue, and coral at the bottom. He laughed sheepishly at the girls, thankful they had planned ahead for his sake.

"Hey, I'm going to go change, go over that way," Gray hollered over his shoulder. The girls waved back at him as they were getting ready themselves. They were faster to get into the water because they already had their swim gear on under their clothes. In no time they had set up three towels, a speaker for music, and some snacks to hold them over until lunch.

Gray walked away into the brush to find a very secluded area. There was enough thick shrubbery that he couldn't see the girls, so he changed into his swim trunks and jogged back to the lake. Once he was out of earshot, one of the shrubs he had changed near rustled for a moment. Ahead of dark brown hair appeared as a boy slowly and silently emerged from the dense greenery.

The boy, Alex, looked around to see that the coast was clear. He could hear that stupid ice wizard swimming with his fiance. Oh, how his blood boiled to hear them together. He knew Elaina was happier with Gray, which only infuriated the boy further. He wanted nothing more for that ice-brained fool to be turned into a Lacrima and rid from his life forever. That was why Alex had no issues helping the King keep an eye on Gray until the Star Festival and their wedding on Saturday night. He refused to let ice-boy ruin things more than he already had.

He pulled a small handheld recorder out of his pocket and looked around again. He was back in a very dense area of the woods, so he wanted to scoot the recorder further up so he could hear what the three might be talking about. He laid down on his stomach and army crawled further along the line of brush he was stationed behind, thankfully being able to hear the three much better than he could before. He set up the contraption and hit record, laying down and listening to their conversation.

"–_e woke up just to pick a fight with me, it was ridiculous!" _Gray laughed through the device, Alex scowled at this. He could hear Elaina and Lauren laughing hysterically with him over some dumb story he was telling.

"_That's hilarious Gray, oh man," _Lauren sighed.

"_Trust me, you guys won't know funny until you meet Natsu. The kid drives me nuts but he can be funny as hell when he tries hard enough." _The girls giggled together.

"_So Gray, tell us more about what Fairy Tail is like. You go out on jobs and take requests and stuff?" _Elaina inquired.

"_Yup, it's a lot of fun. Plus, you make good money off of the jobs you take. Once you find a good team to go with, it's really rewarding in a lot of ways."_

"_That's amazing! I wish I could do something like that, it sounds better than living in that giant white brick I have to call my home," _Elaina grumbled. Alex raised a brow in shock at her words. How could she not love being royalty?!

"_Yeah, now that I know what your old man is really like, I can't blame you for hating this place as much as you do."_ Gray agreed.

"_Speaking of him, do you want to tell us what happened last night?"_ Lauren asked quietly.

"_Guys I really shouldn't. He made it very clear that the consequences would be severe when he told me to keep things under wraps last night. I don't want you two getting involved. No offense Elaina, but your Dad is kind of a nutjob."_

"_Well I'm going to ask him about it after dinner tonight anyway, you might as well just tell us now. I'll just tell him we made you tell us, he can get mad at me all he wants but he doesn't ever stay mad at me. I'm his only daughter after all," _

"_Elaina, he was mad last night. Like, _really _mad. I really don't think this would be like your normal father-daughter arguments."_

"_Please, Gray? C'mon! Secrets don't make friends!" _Lauren whined. Alex hated her, he rolled his eyes behind the bush he was sitting at. He noticed they were silent for a few seconds, Alex was on the edge of his seat hoping Gray would spill it to them and get himself in trouble. He heard a splash from the water and footsteps from the edge of the lake. He scooted closer to the recorder as he heard a rumbling, but was unsure of the direction it was coming from.

_"Guys, I think I hear something,"_ Gray muttered to the girls.

The next thing Alex knew, he felt a foot jam itself between his shoulder blade and a hand smashed his face down into the dirt. He heard a loud crack and looked up to see another fist slammed down onto the recorder.

"NO, YOU FOOL!" Alex screamed. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" He demanded fiercely. He heard a chuckle from behind him. In a split second, he was picked up and thrown through the bushes and landed in the middle of the water. Elaina shrieked and swam to the edge of the lake, Lauren quickly following suit.

"Elaina, Lauren, get out of the water now!" Gray helped both of them out and stood protectively in front of them. A shadowy figure began to emerge from the forest.

"Buddy, you don't have any idea what kind of worlda' hurt you're in for for messin' with our friend over there," Gray gasped at the voice. Elaina grabbed his arm.

"Gray, who is that?" She pleaded nervously. Gray's shock turned to joy as a smile instantly spread across his face. He ripped himself from Elaina's grip and sprinted toward the new individual.

"Gray–!" Lauren and Elaina screamed. Gray leapt forward and threw his arms around the mysterious person. They froze and waited for the dirt and mist to clear from the air. They were shocked at the sight before them. There, in a navy blue sleeveless cloak and white pants, was the exact boy Gray had been talking about just minutes earlier. Gray stood there, locking his arms around the other boy's neck and his face pressed into his shoulder. The pink-haired boy returned the hug, wrapping his arms protectively around Gray's back. He turned his head over his right shoulder and hollered back to someone else in the woods.

"Hey Lucy, we got 'em!" he cheered.

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Thanks for the reviews so far, they're much appreciated. This chapter was difficult to write, I rewrote the second half so many times. I wasn't sure where I wanted it to go for a while, so let me know what you guys think of this.


	10. Chapter 10: Secrets on Secrets

Back in the Kingdom of Fiore, Fairy Tail's guildhall had endured quite a chaotic couple of days. Since Gray's disappearance, and the appearance of the man to blame, emotions were running high amongst members. Warren had spent a good amount of time with Master Makarov and Mirajane trying to crack Rexile for answers. Once again the three were down in the basement in a cell with the green-haired man.

"Alright boy, do you feel like talking yet?" Makarov growled. Mira stood by in her She-Devil form while Warren stood beside her, searching the man's mind for any answers.

"He's scared alright, no doubt about that," Warren muttered. With two fingers to his temple, he closed his eyes and tried to concentrate. He felt a pressure against his forehead and hand but pushed himself to go further.

"_...this boy named Gray Fullbuster. He's a pretty popular ice-mage in Fiore and a damn good one at that." Rexile persuaded. A man with dark brown hair sat atop a throne, a hand resting underneath his chin thoughtfully._

"_Look, he's our best shot. There's nothing in Stardell that will give us an ice lacrima like he will. And, with Lockson's power's gone, he can't help us," he trailed off in a melancholic tone. The man ahead of him nodded, understanding._

"_Alright, if this boy is our best chance, I'm leaving you and Lockson to get the boy. Bring him back alive, Ferya can heal him if he puts up a fight." the man declared. An evil grin spread across his face._

Warren's eyes shot open as he stumbled backward. His breathing was coming out much harsher than it had moments before. He put a hand up against one of the cell walls. Mira turned her attention to him.

"So, you want to turn Gray into a lacrima. Is that correct?" Rexile glared at him.

"Your friend Lockson, what happened to his powers?" Rexile growled and turned his head away from the trio. Warren grinned.

"_That struck a nerve,"_ he thought evilly. "It's a shame your buddy was too pathetic to come after Gray himself. It must be so sad for him to watch all of his lackeys do his dirty work. I wonder what would have happened if we caught him inste–" Cracks appeared along the ground and walls in an instant. The man before him was breathing heavily and gripped the arms of the chair he was tied to tightly.

"Don't you speak about him like that," he muttered, not bothering to lift his head from where it hung as he spoke. Master Makarov kept his eyes on the man and spoke to Warren.

"Find something out, Warren?"

"It sounds like they wanted Gray to create an ice lacrima I think. I heard the name Lockson, it sounds like he was injured in the past and his powers aren't what they once were. He might have been the first Tracker Gray ran into. If they need ice wizards powers, and the Tracker Gray ran into was this Lockson person, that might be our guy." Makarov nodded silently.

"Tell me, young man, what happened to your friend Lockson?" Makarov asked kindly.

"Why the hell should I tell you anything?" Rexile snarled with hostility.

"You haven't got much to lose kid, you might as well just cooperate with us," Mira suggested. Rexile sat in silence for a moment. His head hanging so they couldn't see the man's eyes, Makarov sighed sadly. They were running out of time.

"Alright kids, we're done for today." He turned and left the cell after his two kids left first. Mira reverted back from her Satan's Soul take-over as they made their way back upstairs.

"Wait–" a small voice called from the cell. The three stopped in their tracks. Makarov lifted his head, his eyes trailing to the right.

"Yes, young man?" Silence again.

"...let me tell you what I know," the small voice sighed in defeat. Makarov smiled.

"Mira, would you run upstairs and make a cup of tea for this man?" Mira smiled and nodded, dashing up the stairs. Rexile tipped his head upwards and stared at the short man in confusion. Why would he be getting a cup of tea now of all times? Makarov sat back down in the cell with Warren by his side.

"Now, what can you tell us about the Trackers?" Makarov asked sternly.

"There are four of us, we're a team. There's Ferya, who uses healing magic. Clover uses earth magic. Lockson used to be able to use ice magic, and then I use earth magic like Clover."

"How did Lockson lose his magic? Was he hurt?" Warren asked curiously. It wasn't everyday someone just up and "lost" their magic.

"We were out on a job for someone from Stardell, it was for something really dangerous a couple of years ago. We were all pretty worn down and the enemy was about to fire a full-powered shot at all four of us. Lockson threw up and shield and absorbed the entire attack. It did something terrible to his system, and he hasn't really been the same ever since," Rexile sighed. Warren couldn't help but feel bad for this guy. He didn't know what he would do if he lost his magic either.

"If that's the case, why was this Lockson man able to attack Gray and cause an explosion when they first met?" Makarov asked. Rexile shifted uncomfortably.

"Lockson's toyed around with some really forbidden stuff in our homeland. Ever since he lost his magic, he's gone crazy trying to get it back. He even learned spells of other elements like fire and earth. He's tried everything else except ice magic, which he still can't manage to use like he used to."

"Your queen was like that, wasn't she? She could control multiple elements, but according to history, her death caused a split in future generations, only allowing you to control one element. How did he manage that?"

"Lockson is extremely strong, I'm not exactly sure how he managed that to be honest. If me, Ferya, or Clover tried that our body wouldn't respond well at all." Makarov crossed his arms in thought.

"_It sounds like their magic behaves similarly to Natsu, only they can't eat their element to replenish their power. That's interesting," _Makrov thought to himself.

"I have to be honest with you, I'm worried about Gray," Rexile admitted. Warren stood from his seat, his fists clenched in front of him.

"If you really cared, you never would have let this happen in the first place! It's your fault he's gone, so what do you mean you're worried about him?!" Warren hollered. Makarov placed a hand on the boy's side.

"Warren my boy, that's enough. Take a seat," Warren sighed and sat back down. "Now, what do you mean you're worried about Gray, Rexile? Has this got anything to do with the other plans you have for him?" Makarov asked quieter. He didn't need outbursts from anyone right now. That would only steal away time they didn't have to spare.

"I'm worried about what Lockson might try to do with him. Yes, we needed to turn Gray into a lacrima to use his magic to resurrect the queen. But, I'm worried Lockson may try to sabotage the king's plan and use Gray's magic for himself." Makarov's eyes widened at the boy's indication.

"If he gets his hands on Gray's magic, he could be just as powerful as the queen was!" Makarov exclaimed.

"Exactly. Lockson is my teammate but I know him well enough to know full well he would be stupid enough to try something like that. The team you sent over there needs to get Gray away from him. In his current state of mind, he's a liability to our kingdom and its people."

"Wait, how can we trust you? How do we know you aren't leading us into some kind of trap with Stardell or something?" Warren asked suspiciously. Rexile locked his eyes onto Warren's confidently.

"I know why I joined the kingdom's army, and I stand by that. I want to protect our people and the legacy we've carried for so long. The other's that I was teamed with have wavered from their original morals. I need to think about what's best for the kingdom and the people who live there. If that means taking down my teammates, then they were never fit to protect our home in the first place!" He shouted. Warren was taken aback by the sudden attitude change, but the guy seemed pretty serious. Warren smirked at the kid in front of him.

"Well, I'm glad to see we've knocked some sense into you kid," Rexile turned his head to the side stubbornly, raising a quiet laugh from Makarov.

"So, we need to contact Gajeel and Erza and give them an update." Makarov decided, hopping down from his seat. Mira had made her way back downstairs by that point. Makarov released Rexile from his seat allowing Mira to hand him the cup of tea. Makarov was standing in the cell entryway facing outwards with his hands clasped behind his back.

"Rexile, I will say this once," Rexile's head perked up and instantly turned toward Makarov.

"Yes, sir?" There was silence for a moment.

"Though you are helping us now, I will never forget the harm you have brought one of my children. Bare that in mind young man," Makarov growled in a low and hostile tone. With that, the short man stepped forward and left the cell, returning to the rest of the guild upstairs. Mira and Warren followed shortly after Makarov, leaving Rexile in the cell alone again. The man smirked to himself evilly in the dark corridor. A deep, vile chuckle escaped his lips. His hands shook creating ripples in the cup of tea Mira had delivered. The teacup began to crack and quickly shattered in his hands. His smile only grew larger on his face. He stood from his seat and raised an arm forward, summoning a small portal.

"_These guys are dumber than I thought."_

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Elaina and Lauren stood there in shock at the sight before them. Gray's arms were locked around the other boy's neck, who in return held him tightly and pulled him close.

"Gray!" A flying blue cat yelled, swooping down and perching atop Natsu's shoulder. He wrapped his paws as far as they could reach around Gray's forehead. The small blue creature purred against Gray's head, raising a small giggle from Gray. Natsu smiled fondly at the boy in his arms.

"God, Gray we were so worried about you," The blonde-haired girl spoke as she ran up to the boys. Gray didn't move, while the boy holding him looked up at the girl beside him.

"Hey, Lucy! There you are," He smiled at the girl who beamed back at him. She looked at the dark-haired boy and placed a hand on his head, gently running her hand through his hair in a comforting way.

"Gray, are you okay?" She whispered, trying not to overwhelm the boy. He lifted his head so his chin rested on the other boy's shoulder. Lucy was surprised to see tears in his eyes, which sprung tears into hers as well.

"Hey Lucy, it's really good to see you guys again," his hand closest to her reached up and held the hand that was on top of his head. She smiled and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. One of Natsu's hands trailed upward from Gray's back into his hair at the back of his head. He rested his chin on top of the ice-mage's head.

"I'm so happy we finally found you," he sighed. He held Gray close to himself and closed his eyes for a moment.

Ahead of them, Elaina and Lauren were smiling for the crew. They were so glad Gray's friends had come! From what they could tell so far they seemed like good people, too. What a relief it was that Gray could finally go home! Lauren's face had a broad smile decorating itself, while Elaina looked around the area. She'd heard something from behind them. She spun on her heel, pulling the goofy grin off of Lauren's face. She looked at her brown-haired friend curiously.

"Elaina, what's up?" Lauren asked quizzically. Elaina was glaring downward at her feet, which were near the edge of the lake. Lauren followed her eyes and glanced down to see Prince Alexander floating at her feet. He glanced up to meet his fiance's eyes.

"Lady Elaina, p-please, let me explai–" She slammed her heel into his face and held it there, stopping the boy in his tracks.

"Shut your mouth, Alexander." She muttered ruthlessly at the foolish boy in front of her. The friends around her could feel the anger and hatred radiating off of her. Her fists shook with rage at her sides. Gray and the others had been shaken from their moment and were all staring at the sight before them. Gray was concerned, to say the least. In the small amount of time he had known Elaina, she was not one to get angry, not like this. He took a small step away from Natsu, only to receive a tug at the waist from the pink-haired mage. He looked down to see Natsu's arm wrapped around him.

"Natsu, I have to help," he whispered up to the boy. Natsu glared forward and shook his head.

"Gray, can you not sense all of the magic energy coming off of that girl right now? She wasn't like that a few minutes ago, something is wrong with her."

"No, I can't, Natsu. I can't use any magic at all right now," Gray whispered back, irritated. Natsu's eyes went wide as he locked his eyes onto Gray's. Gray lifted his left hand and showed Natsu the marking to which the boy snarled.

"That's right, they put a magic suppressant seal on you," Gray raised a brow at the comment.

"_Why does he know about that already?"_ he wondered. He shook his head, now wasn't the time to get distracted. Natsu's head shot up to the girl again, he squinted and took a step back, pulling Gray with him.

"Gray, you really shouldn't go near her, the magic energy radiating off this girl is almost painful." Natsu decided. Over his dead body was he about to let Gray get hurt again. Gray went to argue against Natsu's decision but was cut off by Elaina's voice.

"You useless wretch, why did my father want me to marry _you?_" She growled. She leaned down and grabbed the boy by his hair and launched him out of the water. He landed with a grunt, skidding a few feet behind her until he rolled to a stop. He rolled onto his side, propping himself up on his elbows. If Gray wasn't already worried before, he definitely was now. He had to step in and do something, this wasn't like Elaina. Gray glanced over to Lauren who had her hands covering her mouth and was already backed up toward Lucy and Happy. Elaina turned over her right shoulder to approach Alex again, raising a gasp from Gray.

Instead of their normal golden brown, her eyes had turned to a cold, icy shade of light blue. They almost looked white from where Gray was standing. She stood in front of Alex, who was frozen with fear and lying on the ground shaking. Elaina picked him up by the throat this time and pulled him mere inches from her face.

"I swear, _I'll kill you and everyone else in this godforsaken hellhole!"_ She screamed and slammed him down into the ground. Gray pulled at Natsu's arm around his waist again with a stronger sense of urgency.

"Natsu, let me go! We have to help her!" Gray demanded.

"Gray, I can't. Our orders were to secure you and bring you back to the rest of the team and leave here as soon as that happened." Gray shook his head this time and glared up at the boy.

"I know you want to protect me, but stop being so over-possessive that you forget why you became a mage in the first place!" Gray hollered, startling Natsu and the others around them. Natsu growled at him for a moment before he pulled Gray's ear up against his mouth.

"_You're going to move forward, try to get the girls attention. I'm going to be right on your heels. If she so much as moves toward you I'm taking her out. Got it?"_ Natsu growled in a hushed voice so the others wouldn't hear them. Gray nodded swiftly, pushing Natsu away from him and approaching Elaina cautiously. He took a deep breath and glanced at Natsu over his left shoulder who nodded back at him. He could feel Natsu moving with him, he knew he was safe. Now, he needed to focus on helping Elaina. He was about two feet away from her at that point when he decided to call out to her.

"Elaina, can you hear me?" He asked, not wanting to upset the girl. Alex twitched on the ground in front of them. Gray winced at the injuries it looks like Elaina had given him. Gray could definitely see blood near his head. Gray took another step forward when he heard no response from Elaina.

"Elaina, listen to me! It's Gray!" He called out louder this time. He felt a shift in the air. A circular gust of wind surrounded her and pushed out in all directions, forcing Gray backward into Natsu's arms. He felt Natsu's muscles tense up and he placed a hand on one of Natsu's that was protectively set over his chest.

"I'm okay," he whispered up to his friend. Natsu was so focused on the girl in front of him all he could do was nod again. Gray pushed forward through the force of air that was coming from his friend.

"Elaina, you've got to calm down and listen to me! Someone is going to get hurt if you don't get a hold of your magic energy!" He tried again. He finally reached forward to grab her hand, only for the wind surrounding her to cut his hand. He hissed and pulled back, feeling a low rumble coming from the chest behind him. He had to go in headfirst for this, it was the only way he would be able to reach her. If he couldn't stop her, he didn't know how much worse things could get. He stepped forward and braced himself for the cuts and slices to come.

He felt himself being cut on his sides, forearms, shoulders, and back. They stung like crazy but he had no other choice if he wanted to bring Elaina down from her tantrum. He finally flung himself forward and grabbed Elaina's hand in both of his. Everyone felt a major dip in pressure as Gray latched himself onto the girl. She gasped and turned around to face Gray. She looked confused at first, but the emotion quickly melted back into anger. She gripped Gray's hand painfully tight as the wind around her started up with more intensity than before. Natsu and the others were thrown backward and all Gray could do was duck and prepare himself. He winced as he felt himself being cut again. He heard Natsu and Lucy hollering from behind him, the dragon slayer and celestial wizard both unable to reach him. He managed to look up to Elaina through one eye. She looked furious, to say the least.

"What do you want?" She growled, venom dripping from her lips. Gray felt a pang in his heart at the cold words. What had gotten into her? Had Alex done something when they weren't looking or when he hadn't been around?

"Elaina, look at me!" he yelled as he gritted his teeth. He managed to scoot one arm farther up her forearm to stabilize himself more. He continued this action while he tried to bring her back to reality.

"Elaina this isn't like you," Gray pleaded to his new friend. "Come back to us!" He hollered over the endless swirling wind around them. He finally got a hand onto her shoulder and ripped himself forward, wrapping his arms around the girl. She froze, Gray could feel her body tense up for a second as he held her.

"Please, Elaina," he begged. He felt the wind around them start to slow and eventually halt entirely. Her eyes had returned to their normal hue of brown as tears began flowing down her cheeks. She looked at Gray, overwhelmed by everything that had just happened. She threw her arms around his back as if her life depended on it. Sobs escaped her lips and they both fell to their knees.

"I gotcha, don't worry," Gray rubbed circles on the girls back to help calm her down. Natsu, Lucy, Happy, and Lauren all stood off to the side of the two. Natsu being as worried as he was, was holding himself back from running up to Gray and yanking him away from the girl. Lucy could see the look on his face and put a caring hand on his bicep. He glanced over to her.

"We're going to keep Gray safe this time, it's okay Natsu," she whispered with reassurance for her friend. He smiled at her gratefully.

"Thanks, Luce," he sighed. After everything that had happened so far, it was hard not to worry about him. Natsu just wanted to get him out of here and bring him back home. Elaina shifted in Gray's arms in front of the crew. She moved to look at him, muttering unclear apologies and questions all at once.

"G-gray! I'm sorry, what happened? I–I hurt you...I did this, I can't believe I did this, I couldn't control it. Oh god, _I_–" she rambled, her voice cracked and she broke back into a sobbing fit. Gray's face scrunched up as he held the girl. She felt so guilty, what was there to feel guilty for? Sure, Gray had some cuts and whatnot, but he'd had way worse than this before. Alex deserved whatever he got from her, he wasn't concerned with him at the moment. He couldn't figure out what she was so freaked out over.

"_I couldn't control it,"_ Gray's eyes went wide as he held the girl in front of him. No one here except for the Trackers were supposed to be able to use magic. Did Elaina know she could use magic and didn't tell him? He started to put more pieces together in his head.

Her father lying to her at dinner the other night.

Him marrying her off to some other rich boy.

It was a business deal all along, Gray had been right.

"_I'm well aware of those Trackers he orders around as well as his foolish plan to marry off his daughter to benefit himself. He isn't very subtle, most men aren't though," _He remembered the comment Miss Madeleine had made over breakfast that morning. He remembered when Lauren told him that Elaina and Alex were getting married, his first thought was that it was a business deal. If she had magic powers that were this strong, _and_ she was a descendant of the Zander family, there was no other explanation. Someone wanted Maximus's daughter and they were probably going to pay big bucks to get their hands on her.

Gray sat there, frozen, as the puzzle pieces put themselves together in his mind. His jaw unwillingly going slack and hanging from his skull. Elaina sniffed a few more times before pulling back to wipe her eyes. She looked at the ground for a moment, still sniffling after crying so much. She looked up to Gray to speak, immediately looking down again with guilt. Lucy and the others noticed this and looked at Gray. He had a cold and furious look in his eyes.

"Elaina," he started, receiving a turn of the head even farther away from Gray. He sighed. He really did not want to pry this out of her, but with how she was acting, his hands were tied.

"Elaina, look at me," he demanded. His voice was low but his tone was stern and serious. She slowly moved her eyes up to meet his.

"I know you're going to be mad, I shouldn't have lied to you about this." His teammates were very curious to know what she was talking about now. What was this girl hiding. Natsu immediately took a step forward.

"Natsu, don't you dare move any closer," Gray snapped, he didn't even look at Natsu. His eyes remained locked on Elaina. Natsu stood still for a moment before stepping back in defeat.

"Elaina, I'm not mad that you lied to me. I'm worried because this complicates all of our situations way more than they already were." She winced at his words, knowing he was right. She wished she had just told him everything from the get-go. She took a breath and tried to collect her thoughts.

"My mother was descendant of the Queen's family line, so her blood runs through me. Long ago after the queen had died, a spell was cast over the land, prohibiting the people of our kingdom from using magic. There are individuals who are allowed to use it like the Trackers. Then, there are those who are direct descendants of the Queen herself who have naturally strong magic abilities. It only affects women, but because we have such strong magic abilities, a seal is always placed on female babies in our family. My parents only had one child and hoped it would be a boy to break the cycle, but then they had me," she winced at her own words, the truth stinging her heart like a knife.

"I know I should have told you this sooner, I'm so sorry Gray," her voice breaking as she began to cry again. She brought her hands to her face in shame. She felt two hands on her shoulders and she looked up hesitantly.

"Elaina, stop apologizing, this is _not_ your fault." Gray insisted. She was shocked to hear anything other than anger coming from the boy in front of her. He smiled at her and took her hands in his.

"Remember what I was saying about Fairy Tail earlier?" She nodded slowly.

"You said it was fun to help people, it was rewarding when you worked with your team to help people in need, right?" He smiled fondly and nodded his head.

"What makes you think this situation is any different, girly? We're all here, so you can bet we're going to help you," the smile fading from his face quickly turning into a death glare as he looked at Alex. "We're going to start by calling off your marriage." She was stunned, she had no words for Gray's sudden decision.

"Gray, what do you mean we're going to call off a marriage? What else is going on here?" Lucy questioned quickly.

"I'll explain everything later, in the meantime though," he looked at Natsu with an evil glint in his eye. The pink-haired hooligan picking up on it immediately. Gray rose from his place in front of Elaina, Lauren immediately swooping in to hug her friend. Lucy sat down near the girls and tried to comfort them as best she could. Natsu looked at the heap in front of them at _was_ Elaina's fiance. Natsu cracked his knuckles and grinned.

"So ice-princess, whatcha wanna do with him?" Natsu asked eagerly. Gray's evil grin grew larger.

"Just follow my lead flame-brain,"

With a thump and a grunt coming from the beaten and battered prince, Natsu and Gray threw him back into the bushes where he was originally hiding. They had tied the boy up and had no plans on helping him back to the castle. They snickered as they walked away from the fool, fist-bumping as they went.

"Gray, wait a second," Natsu said quietly. Gray stopped and turned around to face him.

"What's up, man?" He asked curiously.

"Gray, you sounded pretty set on helping this girl. You know what's at stake if we stay here, right?" Natsu asked quietly. Gray frowned but nodded nonetheless.

"I can't settle to save my own hide if I leave her here to suffer Natsu," he pointed up ahead to where the girls were waiting. "She _needs_ our help, we can't just leave her here!" he whispered in distress. Natsu looked away and crossed his arms. He didn't want to budge, but Gray was so damn persuasive when he wanted to be.

"Would you ever let someone force me into an arranged marriage?" Natsu was startled by the bizarre question.

"I-I– n-no! Of course, I wouldn't! What the hell makes you think I'd ever let that happen?!" He demanded, a red mark appearing in irritation at the corner of his forehead.

"Then why is it fair for her to suffer through that? No one should have to be forced into something like that Natsu," Gray pleaded sadly. Natsu had never heard a tone like this from Gray before. It tugged at his heart in ways he'd never felt before, he couldn't say no to him when it put it that way. They were both quiet for a minute, Gray silently praying that Natsu would say yes to helping them.

"Fine," he sighed in defeat. "But, we're going to have to come up with a plan for the next few days. And, this means we have to stay through the rehearsal dinner _and the wedding_." He emphasized his last few words. Gray looked at him, a sly grin crawling onto his lips.

"Don't worry, I think I've got a plan to sneak you and Lucy into the castle." Natsu was a bit unnerved by the look on his friends face. He rubbed his face with both of his hands as they both started walking again.

"Gray, you crazy bastard. You _know_ things are bad when I'm the one planning things." Gray laughed out loud, wiping a tear from his eye.

"You're not the only one who's planning pal. C'mon, let's catch up with the girls and get a move on." Gray jogged ahead of the boy. Natsu chuckled and ran to catch up with him, silently counting his blessings.

"_What the hell would I do without this kid?"_

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Review and leave your thoughts, thanks. This was a fun chapter to write! I have to say, I went back and forth with myself on this for a while, but I am going to have Natsu and Gray get together as the story goes on. It won't be anything too wild, but I have some ideas on how to incorporate it. If I do it well, it might lead into a sequel for this story that would be a blast to write. Anyways, leave your thoughts, they've been pretty helpful so far. Thanks!


	11. Chapter 11: Miss You, Miss Me?

Once Natsu and Gray had jogged back to meet up with the girls, they were both pleased to see that Elaina had calmed down. Her eyes were still puffy from crying earlier, but Lauren, Lucy, and Happy had her smiling and laughing again in no time. The three girls sat on the towels they had laid out before they went swimming and Happy was flying overhead. They turned as they heard a rustling up ahead of their seats and saw Gray and Natsu emerge from the bushes.

"Hey guys, is that freaky kid taken care of?" Lucy chimed.

"Yup!" The boys chirped in unison, mischievous smiles plastered on both of their faces. Elaina laughed at the duo.

"Thank you guys, really," she sighed, giggling and looking at Gray. "Gray, I don't know how many more times you're going to save my skin while you're here, but I'm incredibly grateful for your endless courage." Gray smiled at the girl, waving his hand as he spoke.

"Ah, don't worry about it. We like to do this stuff, we're just doing our jobs," he smiled. He wished there were more people in the world with a heart like Elaina's. The side glare from Natsu going unnoticed by Gray, his expression became more focused, as did Natsu and Lucy's.

"So Gray," Natsu started. "You mentioned you had a plan for sneaking us into the castle, eh? Care to share the details now or later?" Gray scoffed at the cocky boy beside him as they both took a seat on the ground..

"What do you know about the rest of this weeks schedule, Elaina? Anything?" The girl put her elbows on her knees and rested her chin on her fists.

"Well, we have all of today and tomorrow, then the rehearsal dinner is happening on Friday evening, and then the Star Festival and the wedding are on Saturday. As far as the rehearsal dinner goes, that's going to be happening at 5:00 PM. The morning will probably be really busy with the staff preparing the venue. We'll be taken care of all day while they get us ready for the event," she was thinking out loud at this point based on what she had heard so far and how her father had run events like this in past years.

"Elaina, what do you mean they'll be taking care of us?" Gray asked skeptically.

"There are usually different housemaids and staff assigned to the children of royal families who help them get ready. Considering you're a boy, it'll probably be more low maintenance than my arrangements. Usually, the clothes they have you wear have things that zip and clip on the back, so they have to help you into and out of the outfits." Gray made a grossed out face at this, remembering how many times people had changed his clothes for him already. A shiver crawled up his spine.

"Is something the matter?" Elaina asked.

"The only way I've fallen asleep both nights I've been here was by being knocked out and then waking up in new clothes the next morning. I don't want anyone helping me change anymore!" he whined. Natsu let out a hearty laugh at his friend's embarrassment.

"Aw Gray, you won't be able to strip at the wedding!" Natsu rolled backward onto the ground laughing so hard his stomach ached. A red mark appeared over Gray's forehead.

"Shut up, Natsu! We have more important things to worry about!" He growled, standing and shaking his fist at the pink-headed hooligan. Lucy sweat-dropped and Elaina and Lauren looked at each other. Elaina leaned down toward Lucy's ear.

"Lucy, is this normal for them?" she whispered, watching the two boys in front of them butt heads. Lauren giggled at their foolishness.

"Yup, put us back in Fairy Tail and this would be a pretty typical encounter for them," she sighed. The two girls beside her still thinking it was funny waited until their feud was finished.

"Stupid flame freak," Gray muttered, stomping toward the girls to grab his clothes and put them on over his now almost dry swim trunks. Natsu stood with his arms crossed and a victorious smile on his face.

"Is the married couple ready to get back to planning?" Lucy cooed teasingly at the boys. They both shot her a glare.

"_We are not a married couple!"_ they shouted in unison, instantly staring at each other oddly as soon as the sentence flew out of their mouths. The three girls lost it, laughing hysterically at them.

"Alright, really, we should get down to business now. We've got three days to figure out how to stop the king's plan and the wedding," Lucy decided while wiping a tear from her eye. Gray and Natsu regained their composure and jumped into the conversation. "Natsu and I were talking earlier and I thought it would be helpful for us to sneak in and have Gemini get us onto the guest list. They could mimic the secretary, write our names on the list, leave the room, and boom! We're in for the dinner party!" Lucy crossed her arms in a cocky manner. Elaina simply raised her brows at the blonde girl next to them.

"Wouldn't it be easier if I just wrote your names on the guestlist?" Lucy blanked for a second. Would her father really let her do that?

"Would you be able to get away with that, Elaina?" Gray asked, concern present in his voice. Natsu glanced at him, keeping an eye on his friend.

"Yeah, we'll have to make up an excuse or something, but Lucy looks a lot like Lauren. Maybe you could pose as her cousin or aunt or something?" Elaina suggested, Gray's face gaining back the sly grin he had on earlier.

"That settles it! Natsu and Lucy are posing as a couple at the rehearsal dinner!" Natsu and Lucy stared at him blankly for a second.

"_NO WE ARE NOT!" _They both hollered. Birds could be seen flying out of trees off in the distance away from the group.

"Good idea Elaina, this is gonna work perfectly," Gray cheered.

"Not so bad yourself there champ," she praised. The two fist-bumped in success while Lucy and Natsu were looking awkwardly at one another.

"Man, why of all people do I have to go with you, Lucy?" Natsu whined. She shot him a death glare. They bickered back and forth for a few minutes, leaving Gray to his thoughts. He remembered dinner last night with the king again.

"_Alex and Elaina will spend the evening together and you are not to make a fool of the boy. You are not to go near them once that night," _Gray cringed and remembered how serious the King was. He hadn't told them about that yet though, how was he supposed to explain Elaina's father's crazy threats and actions to everyone?

Wait, he hadn't told any of them about last night. Why would Lucy and Natsu know about that? Natsu heard Gray's sudden inhale and turned to him.

"Something wrong, Gray?" Natsu questioned.

"Why do you three know about the rehearsal dinner? I haven't said a word about that all day," he eyed them suspiciously.

"We had Gajeel fly out last night to scope out the area. He and Pantherlily could smell you from miles away and headed up to a window outside the dining hall you were in. We caught everything the king said to you, so we know what he's planning." she said confidently. He had to admit, he was surprised by the team's efforts to find him in such a short amount of time. Elaina and Lauren glared at him.

"So they can know, but I don't get to know what my own father said to you?! What gives?!" Elaina exclaimed. Gray looked at Natsu, tipping his head toward her with an unimpressed expression reading "care-to-explain?" Natsu scoffed, Gray smirked in return.

"Elaina, last night your father gave Gray strict orders not to breathe a word of their conversation outside of that room. Would you rather go on a scavenger hunt for Gray's body parts, or do you want to help him?" everyone gasped at Natsu's aggressive comment.

"Natsu! You don't need to be so rude to her about it! She's already upset as it is!" Lucy yelled. Natsu wasn't even phased, his eyes stayed locked on a now horrified Elaina.

"I-I...I had no idea he would go so far..." she trailed off. Lauren placed a comforting hand on the girl's back, shooting daggers at Natsu.

"That's enough. Getting emotional won't solve anything. However, Natsu's right. We need to focus on a plan and stick to it. We don't have time to worry about me, I can take care of myself." Gray decided. Ignoring his own stress over their ordeal, he managed to reel everyone's focus back in. Receiving nods from everyone in the group, he let out a breath he was unknowingly holding.

"So, our plan is to return to the castle and put Lucy and Natsu's names on the guest list as a couple. Who else on the team is coming to the party? We shouldn't bring you two alone, we'll want back up in case anything goes wrong."

"Well, we had just planned for me and Natsu to go, but we should definitely bring Erza with us. Who else?" Lucy wondered, turning to Natsu.

"We're going to want Gajeel, he's good at staying undercover and sneaking around." Natsu decided. Happy nodded in agreement.

"Who else is here?" Gray asked.

"Juvia, Wendy, Carla, Pantherlily, and Happy," Natsu said pointing up at his blue-haired partner.

"Call me crazy, but Juvia might be good to have around." Gray decided. Lucy and Natsu gave him somewhat surprised looks but made no comment. "Alright, so Natsu and Lucy will go as a couple. Erza and Juvia can go as a pair of business partners, and Gajeel can go off on his own. He'll do better working on his own. For Wendy and the Exceeds, maybe they can scan the property during the party from afar and keep an eye on things outside. Having forces on the inside and outside will be good."

"Gramps gave us walkie talkies and earpieces too, so we'll get you one before the party. They should be subtle enough that no one will notice them." Natsu added.

"Good, Happy can fly the earpiece and anything else from the team up to my bedroom. I trust you'll be able to track my scent, Happy?" Gray glanced up at the floating blue cat.

"Aye, sir! You can count on me!" Happy cheered giving a thumbs up.

"Alright, what will you guys all do?" Lucy questioned, turning to Lauren and Elaina.

"Well, if Alex makes it back to the castle, I'll have to stay with him for the evening. Gray?" Elaina turned to him.

"I'm not totally sure yet. Your father just made it clear that I need to stay away from you on Friday night. Other than that, I might have to play it by ear, unfortunately," he muttered.

"_And stay the hell away from all of the Trackers that are bound to be there,"_ he pinched the bridge of his nose. If anyone should have a plan going into Friday's dinner, it was him. And of course, he didn't have one.

"Well if more team members are there we can watch your back, Gray. We can spread out and get more information. Our team has all day tomorrow to plan accordingly, too." Lucy pointed out. Gray was glad Lucy's head was screwed on right, not leaving him to plan everything on his own.

"Good, sounds like a plan. It's getting late, Elaina's father might start getting suspicious if we're late to dinner, so I think it'd be safe to start heading back to the castle. Elaina will make sure you two and the others are put on the guest list, and I'll try to get away from dinner conscious tonight," Gray rolled his eyes at the last part. Gray, Elaina, and Lauren packed their things and started to get ready to head back to the castle, while Lucy, Natsu, and Happy hung by Gray's side.

"Hey girls," Natsu spoke up. "We actually need to talk to Gray about one more thing, he'll catch up with you though, alright?" The girls looked skeptical, but decided to trust them.

"You remember how to get back?" Elaina asked. Gray nodded in response. She and Lauren smiled and grabbed their bags, waving to the group as they started their walk back. Gray turned to his teammates.

"What's up Natsu?" Lucy asked. She thought they had wrapped everything up for the time being. Natsu turned to Lucy's bag and pulled a walkie-talkie out of it. Gray, Happy and Lucy all beamed at the boy. He grinned back at them.

"I thought we should relay the plan to the others, and," Natsu paused and turned to Gray. "I figured you would want to hear everyone's voices again." Gray smiled sincerely at his friend. Natsu must be worried sick if he was being this considerate of the ice-mage's feelings. He did truly appreciate the gesture, though.

Natsu turned a dial and a small red light on the device flicked on. He held a button and spoke into the microphone.

"Testing, testing, Team Natsu calling, over–" he let go of the button. Static could be heard back, which Gray assumed was the sound of other walkie-talkies being turned on by their carriers.

"_Testing, Team Erza, and Gajeel," _A deep, man's voice called back.

"_Testing, Team Wendy and Juvia here," _A gentle, older woman's voice called back. Gray smiled and ran a hand through his hair. They were all here, he couldn't believe it. He could, because it was Fairy Tail, but he was so happy just to hear the sound of their voices. Natsu smiled at Gray and put the mic in his direction. Gray smiled at him and Natsu held the button while he spoke.

"Um, hello~" he called in a sing-song voice. "Can you guys hear me okay?"

"_No shit, is that Gray Fullbuster on the line?" _Gajeel rang back. Gray laughed at the older man's sense of humor.

"_Hi, Gray! It's so good to hear from you again!"_ A little girl's voice squeaked back happily. He assumed that must be Wendy.

"_Gray, it's great to hear from you. How are you doing?"_ A deeper woman's voice asked. He immediately knew it was Erza's voice.

"_Gray, my beloved! How are you? What's happened at the castle?"_ Gray laughed, that was definitely Juvia.

"I'm okay you guys, thanks. I'm with Lucy, Natsu, and Happy right now," he smiled up at the two. Happy soared above the team making figure eights in the sky. Lucy feeling overwhelmed by the joy from her friends, she ran up and hugged Gray, giggling joyfully. Gray hugged the celestial wizard back and felt a pat on the back from Natsu. They looked to one another, no need for words.

"_You kept your promise. I knew you would come for me"_

"_I told you I had your back, and I always will." _Natsu squeezed the ice mage's shoulder tenderly. Lucy released Gray from her hug as they looked back to the walkie-talkie, hearing voices ring through again. It was Erza this time.

"_So, are you headed back to base? We've got our hotel setup and we're all out in town right now."_

"_I can make my way to the outer castle walls for backup if you guys need it. It doesn't sound like there's much chaos going on there. What are you four up to?" _Gajeel questioned, of course, he'd pick up on everything before the others did. The team of four sweat-dropped and prepared to spill their grand scheme to their friends.

"No you're right, there's nothing going on right now. We're out in the woods at the moment away from the castle. We're on the right, or east side of the castle."

"_Perfect, I can head over there now and we can all meet back at the hotel room. The sooner we can get back to the portal and go home, the better." _Gajeel stated.

"Gajeel there's one problem with that," Gray said.

"_And that would be?"_

"I'm not leaving yet, I have to stay."

There was silence from everyone on the channel for a minute, before…

"_WHAT?!_" Everyone shrieked back at him, causing him to jump and hold the walkie-talkie farther away from himself.

"_Natsu and Lucy, your mission was to bring Gray back immediately upon finding him. Those orders were from the Master himself, you need to stick to t–"_ Natsu ripped the mic from Gray's hand and cut Erza off.

"Erza let's get one thing clear: _this was not our idea._" Natsu snarled into the device. Once again silence overtook the radio channel. Natsu huffed out a breath, looking at Gray as he continued his spiel.

"There's a lot more going on here than we thought. Yes, Gray is a vital portion of that, but there are some really screwed up things going on with the royal family that's holding him here, specifically revolving around their daughter. He's set on staying and helping them. As much as I want to drag him home already, I think he's right. We can't abandon people who need our help." he held the walkie-talkie from his face in one hand and placed his other on his hip as. He rocked back and forth on his heels absentmindedly, blowing out a huge breath with his cheeks puffed out as they waited for a response. Lucy held Happy nervously and Gray stood with his arms crossed.

They waited…

And waited…

Until…!

"_Everyone head back to the hotel, we'll meet there to discuss this updated plan of action. Team Natsu will return to the castle once we've regrouped. Gray,"_ Erza paused. "_Will stay at the castle until further notice. Upon Team Natsu's return, they will give Gray an earpiece, we'll use this to keep him updated on where we are and what we're planning."_ All four sighed, relieved Erza gave the go-ahead for their new plan so quickly.

"_That being said, this earpiece will track Gray's location and has a built-in microphone, allowing us to hear and find him at all times. If anything goes awry, we storm the castle and take Gray home. Is that understood by all team members?"_

"_Yup!" _Team Wendy replied.

"Yes!" All four members of Natsu's team chanted.

"_Guess I ain't got a choice, sure," _Gajeel answered, unimpressed by Gray's sudden charades. Gray smiled gratefully at the voices coming from the handheld device. Natsu looked up at Gray.

"_Alright then, we'll meet back at the housing site immediately," _Erza concluded. Multiple clicks could be heard as the radio channel was silenced for good.

"You know we can't walk you back there, right?" Natsu asked worriedly, Gray nodded.

"And you know the girls are probably already back at the castle by now?" Gray nodded again. Natsu peered over Gray's shoulder to the path behind him.

"And you know the way back is heavily wooded?" Gray nodded again, laughing this time. This irritated the fire-breathing wizard.

"Why on Earth are you laughing?! This is serious Gray! You shouldn't be taking this as some joke or s–" Gray leaned forward and embraced Natsu in a hug, stopping the boy from lecturing him further. Oh, how the two friends had swapped places. Gray couldn't recall a time Natsu had ever really needed to lecture him, not like this at least. The closest he could come up with was Galuna Island, and that was more a scolding when he had tried to use the Iced-Shell spell, _twice_.

Gray had tucked his face back onto Natsu's shoulder, resting the side of his head against Natsu's. Natsu immediately ducked his head down into the crook of Gray's neck, hiding his face from the view of his friends.

"Natsu, you know I'm going to be okay, right?" he was quiet at first until he heard Natsu mumble something he couldn't quite make out. "What was that, Natsu?" Gray asked, trying his best to comfort the boy. In all the years he had been friends with Natsu, he had never seen him this worried. That did explain why he was actually planning things out and why he gained the sudden gall to talk back to Erza just a minute ago.

"I don't want to lose you again," Natsu mumbled just loud enough for Gray to hear. Natsu lifted his head and locked onto Gray's eyes.

"Do you know how scary it was to come back and realize you were _gone?_" He gripped Gray's biceps. Gray bent his arms up and gently rested his fingertips on Natsu's forearms. He could only imagine how Natsu must have felt, especially after the promise he'd made him.

"I know, it must have been hard for all of you. But I'm here now, and you and the rest of the team are here with me. We aren't a whole world apart anymore. You guys will have my back, I trust you all with my life." Gray murmured, trying to calm Natsu's nerves. Natsu had tears welling at the corners of his eyes. He was _really _upset, Gray couldn't remember a time he had to calm Natsu down like this. He did, however, remember a conversation he had with Gajeel once.

"_Yup! It's true!" Gajeel leaned back in his seat, laughing at the look on Gray's face as he tried to make sense of what Gajeel had just told him._

"_But I don't get it Gajeel, Dragons were affectionate? Weren't they the most terrifying creatures in all of Earthland or somethin'?" Gray asked curiously. When he thought of dragons being affectionate, and then thought about Natsu and Gajeel's character, the two didn't seem to go hand-in-hand in his opinion._

"_Well, Dragons are very physical creatures. When they're happy, sad, overwhelmed, or any other emotion besides anger really, they love to be close to the people they love." Gray was genuinely surprised to hear this._

"_Well, what do Dragons do when they're happy or sad?" Gajeel thought for a second, a hand placed on his chin._

"_No matter what, I can tell you Dragons love circles. Rubbing circles on their backs or on their heads is an easy way to put them to sleep, it's really relaxing. If they're sad, they just need to be close to someone important, like their mate or a family member. They'll rub their noses together as a sign of love or to get the attention of someone they're worried about. They'll hold their heads against each other, too. That's how Dragons are affectionate, it's kind of sweet, really," Gray smiled at the dark-haired man. It was honestly really interesting._

Gray pulled Natsu's head towards his and put their foreheads together. He kept a hand on the back of the boys head and ran his hand in circles through the pink locks. That was a small trick all of Natsu's teammates knew, they would do it to him on train rides when he got motion sick to help him sleep while they traveled. They stayed like that in silence, Natsu sniffling and trying to hold back the tears of guilt and anger he felt for his friend's well-being.

"I promise," he hiccupped. "I'm going to be there for you. Okay? I mean it this time,"

"You kept your first promise too,"

"I let them take you away! I didn't get to you in time–!" his voice broke and he swallowed, trying to regain his composure. Gray bumped his nose against Natsu's, Natsu nuzzled forward into the touch. He didn't know why, but it helped calm him down a bit.

"Natsu," Gray cooed quietly. Gray took one of Natsu's hands and placed it on his heart. Gray kept his hand on top of Natsu's. Natsu's eyes widened at this. Every Dragon probably had the thing that grounded them when they were upset, this might have been Natsu's.

"I'm here, I'm alive, and I promise we're all going to go home together." Natsu closed his eyes and breathed in Gray's scent. It smelled like mint and pine. He smelled like his best friend. He could hear and now feel Gray's heartbeat. He tried his best to only focus on that. Gray could feel Natsu's breathing evening out, as well as see the tears in his eyes drying up.

"Better now, aye, flame-brain?" Gray teased. Natsu chuckled, a bit embarrassed for making a scene.

"Yeah, I think I'm good," he slowly pulled away from Gray's head and looked down at his hand, still held against Gray's heart. He stared at it for a second before turning it over and giving Gray's hand a squeeze.

"We're all gonna be okay," he said with the confidence they all knew and loved. Gray smiled at the boy.

"There's our dragon-slayer," Gray chimed happily. The boys separated and looked to Lucy and Happy and bit sheepishly.

Lucy and Happy smiled at the two boys. She had a hunch they were growing on each other more than they would ever let on, but she wouldn't say anything just yet. This entire experience should bring them closer together, they were best friends after all. Her and Happy exchanged a glance up and down at one another and shrugged, deciding to leave it alone for now.

"So, time to get goin'?" Natsu suggested. Everyone nodded in response. Gray jumped up, he almost forgot!

"Hey guys, two quick things. First, take Alex with you back to the hotel, it'll buy us time here if he's out of the way, and you might get some good info out of him. Doesn't sound like it'll be too hard to make him talk," Natsu laughed and gave a toothy grin at the idea, knowing it would piss off the hot-headed prince. Natsu couldn't wait to bug the living daylights out of the boy.

"Second, Natsu, thank Gajeel for me when you get back." Natsu tipped his head, getting a smirk from Gray. He tossed his bag over his shoulder and got ready to part ways with his friends.

"He'll know what for, don't worry."

"Whatever you say, pal," Natsu shrugged, not questioning the ice-mage's motives.

"Sounds good Gray, we'll see you then!" Lucy agreed.

Gray turned to Lucy and Happy and hugged them before they left and made his way back to the castle.

Natsu walked back behind the bushes to find a more conscious Alexander still right where he and Gray had thrown him earlier. The boy looked up at him, fear in his eyes as Natsu bent down and picked him up by the front collar of his shirt. The way the shadows landed on Natsu's face and body made his eyes look like pure white orbs.

"We're gonna have fun with you _pal,"_ Natsu hissed.

Beyond the treeline, a scream was all that could be heard before the team took off to their housing site and dashed into the greenery of Stardell.

Gray walked alone on the path back to the castle, taking in the views and scents from the lovely forest around him. It was a nice place to live for sure, it was sad it was run by such ignorant high-ups, though. He walked ahead as his arms dangled at his sides. He looked overhead to see the sky turning to a warm orange hue.

He walked on and lost himself in his thoughts, remembering his own situation. The king wanted to turn him into a lacrima and use him as a tool. It was absurd, and a completely foolish idea. How were they going to stop his plan? It was reassuring having his team close by, but would it be enough? Surely they had fought tougher enemies and been in tighter situations than this, right?

He heard a twig snap behind him, immediately spinning around and falling into a defensive position. He held his breath as a bush rustled, only for a small rabbit to hop out onto the path. He sighed, placing his left hand over his racing heart, and his other leaned up against a tree. He was so on edge a forest creature got the best of him.

"_C'mon Gray, get a grip," _he chided mentally. He had to be better than that. He stood up straighter and shook his head. He heard another twig snap behind him and he froze. This one was different. There was the initial snap, but the sound lingered for a few seconds longer. It sounded like someone was trying to make a tree branch crack.

"_A tree branch. But who would–" _His eyes flew open wide. His heart felt like it would jump out of his throat it was beating so hard. He suddenly became aware of the faintest breathing coming from behind him. His grip on the tree tightened. His head remained still and looking forward, but his eyes were as far to the left side of his head as they could see. He didn't want to turn around. He knew who was behind him. He didn't want to believe that he was behind him.

"We both know your friends are long gone Gray, so there's no point in screaming this time," he heard a malicious voice snicker from his backside. He tried to run forward, but the second his arm left the tree it had been attached to, vines crawled forward and wrapped themselves around his wrist and up his forearm, stopping midway up his bicep. He was halted in his efforts, quickly looking at the tree and trying to pull the vines away. He grunted and put all of his energy into ripping the vines away, but without his magic, he was powerless.

"_Don't panic, stay calm, freaking out will only make this worse,"_ he reminded himself. His back still facing his enemy put him at a huge disadvantage, he couldn't see where the man was!

A hand snaked under his right arm that was held to the tree and came up and grabbed the tip of his chin, snapping his head to the right. There was that same green-headed bastard again.

"Rexile," Gray snarled. His face molded into an ugly glare. Rexile laughed and put himself an inch from Gray's face.

"Miss me, princess?"

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Review and leave your thoughts, thanks. Sorry all, but I loved ended this with a cliffhanger! I'll try to get the next chapter up soon. In the meantime, ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯. Anyways, this chapter and the last were full of emotional conflict from both sides, it was interesting to write. Let me know what you think, feel free to leave feedback on what you might like to see too. Your reviews are great to read, they really get my brain going with a lot more ideas on where to take this thing.


	12. Chapter 12: Close Calls

Gray growled at the man in front of him. Their eyes remained locked on each other's for what felt like an eternity. Rexile snickered and tipped his own head slightly, sending a chill down Gray's spine.

"Can't believe you fell for the same stupid jump again," Rexile chuckled lowly, shaking his head. Gray wouldn't show it, but he felt like a fool being caught alone again. Like he would tell the ape in front of him that, though.

"What do you want?" Gray muttered cautiously.

"Nothing more than to make you suffer, Fullbuster."

"I'm already stuck here to be used for your stupid king's plans. You have no business with me," Gray said, faking as much confidence as he could muster. It worked pretty well, Rexile didn't see through it and that was all that mattered.

"You're right, I'm not here on the King's affairs. I'm here for my own personal gain," Gray scowled at him, confused by what he meant. Rexile served the King, what was he talking about "personal gain"?

They stood there in silence again. Gray tried to subtly eye the area around them, thinking of a way he could get away from Rexile. If he could find something to pry the branch off of his arm, then maybe–

"_Augh–!" _Gray wheezed. He collapsed forward as all of the air in his lungs suddenly vanished. He fell forward, only supported by his arm still trapped against the tree, and by Rexile's fist slamming directly into his stomach. His back was pressed against Rexile's chest, and now that he was winded, his chances of escape did nothing but slip further away from him.

"I already told you," he growled while twisting his fist further into Gray's gut. "No one is going to come for you this time." Gray tried his best not to react, but as Rexile ground his fist further into the boy's abdomen, he let a small whine slip out. Rexile chuckled at the boy sickly.

"You twit, you put up more of a fight last time than you are now. Already giving up, hm? We're just getting started!" he hollered directly into Gray's ear.

With Gray bent forward, Rexile grabbed him by the back of his shirt and launched him to Gray's left side around the tree he was attached to. Gray swung to the side and slammed back into the wood. He landed with a harsh thud up against the tree and his right arm was wrapped backwards along the tree's trunk.

He hunched forward, his left arm held his stomach in an effort to relieve the pain Rexile had inflicted. He could already tell there were going to be some nasty bruises there later. Rexile raised a brow and grabbed the boy's left hand, examining it closely with genuine interest.

"Huh, the boss put the seal on you that quick? Damn, you really must have pissed him off. This looks like Clover's doing," he grinned and grabbed Gray by the throat. He squeezed hard, forcing a gasp out of the boy in his clutches. "This is gonna be a lot easier than I thought it'd be." his eyes widened as he hissed out the last few words. He sounded like a rabid animal, and it genuinely scared Gray.

Rexile pulled Gray's head forward and pushed it back into the tree behind him. Gray couldn't help but let his head fall forward, dangling for a second. He saw stars behind the lids of his eyes as he tried to get his bearings.

His left arm that was back clutching his stomach was quickly grabbed by another set of branches and vines, and was ripped backwards to match his right. He tried to throw his torso forward and yanked at the restraints all he could. The more he pulled at them, the harder they pinned him back against the sharp bark. His back was pressed up hard against the wood of the tree, ripping into his skin relentlessly. Rexile waltzed around and faced the boy in front of him, who continued to thrash and try to escape.

"_This guy is a monster, what the hell am I supposed to do now?!" _he thought aggressively. He couldn't move his arms, he could feel pins and needles creeping up his forearms. He could sense the feeling in his fingers slowly beginning to fade away as the numbness moved up both of his arms.

"Aw, would ya looky here? You sure have gotten yourself into a predicament son," Gray shot his eyes up to him, but didn't speak. He remembered how this guy worked from the first time they met. Gray had a whole lot he wanted to dish out to this prick, but he knew he'd get himself killed if he opened his mouth.

"What's the matter, ice boy? Cat got your tongue?" He teased. Gray snapped his head to the right and left and looked at his arms. He was still trying to figure out a way out of the situation he was in. The next thing he knew, a wad of his hair was being pulled backwards, forcing his chin and neck to strain upwards. He let out a grunt, being caught off guard from how quickly Rexile had moved.

"You know, those guild mates you speak so highly of are intimidating after all, you were right about that," Gray smirked slightly through the pain, one eye squinted shut as he glared at the Tracker with one open eye. He was glad his friends had messed with this bastard.

"But, they are the most willfully ignorant sack of fools I've ever met. I see where you get it from now!" Gray's smirk immediately faded, turning to a look of distress. His jaw slacked for a moment and he swiftly tried to find his words.

"What did you do to them?!" He demanded, pulling at his restraints. Rexile walked away from him and paced back and forth in front of the boy.

"Oh, I didn't do anything, and the best part is, neither did they. They let me waltz right out of there." Gray gasped. They wouldn't, he must have done something to them. He couldn't have gotten away so easily, could he?

"After I faked some cutesy sob story to them, they left me in the cell, alone and untied. They totally fell for it, they even made me a cup of tea! They showed me, the one who hurt _you_, hospitality! Isn't that just precious?" Rexile smiled wickedly. He threw his hands in the air and laughed at Gray's dumbfoundedness.

"Your master, he was ugly at first, but eventually he came around just like the other two. He's not such a bad guy when you're on his good side. I see why you all call him Gramps now," Gray gazed forward in shock.

"Who else was there? Who were the two others?" Gray asked, his tone almost frantic.

"Oh some black-haired freak who could see into my brain and some other girl who looked like a she-devil." Rexile shrugged carelessly.

"_Warren and Mira?" _Gray wondered. It made sense with everyone else being here in Stardell. Mira could have subdued him if needed. Gramp's probably brought Warren to search Rexile's mind for answers if they couldn't get him to talk.

"They were both annoying as hell. I'll tell you though," he mocked, walking up to Gray again. "When she wasn't in that god awful lizard form, the girl looked pathetic if you ask me. That ugly, white-haired bimbo would have been too easy to take do–" Gray pulled his head back and slammed it into Rexile's face.

The dark-haired man shrieked and stumbled backward. He leaned against a rock nearby and immediately brought a hand to his gushing nose. A smug look made its way into Gray's face. He was damn proud of finally getting a hit in on this guy.

Rexile brought his hand away from his new injury to find a pool of blood in his hands. He clenched his fist and his figure trembled with rage. As much as Gray knew he was going to regret that in about thirty seconds, he would have done it again if he had the chance. No one messed with Fairy Tail and got away with it. Not on his watch, at least.

"You little _bastard_…" venom dripped from his words as he spoke. Yup, Gray was really regretting that right now. The man slowly stood up, his hair covering his eyes. Gray could see the blood pooling down to his mouth and chin from his nose.

He started to take a step toward Gray.

Then another.

Until he was leaned right up against Gray's forehead again.

For a moment, everything was still, everything was quiet. Gray just stared forward at the man and waited for what was going to happen next. You could hear a pin drop from the other side of the forest. Suddenly, he could only see the whites of the man's teeth as Rexile smiled inches from his face. Gray felt a shiver crawl through his spine.

A hand launched up and wrapped itself around the base of his skull, pushing his head upwards. He yelped again, much more on edge this time than the last. Rexile pulled even harder than before, until Gray's feet were off the ground. Gray gritted his teeth and squinted his eyes shut tightly.

"If you're going to be a pest that way," he paused. He lifted his head and his eyes finally met Gray's, ripping Gray's breath from his body.

Rexile's eyes had gone from dark blue, to an empty shade of pitch black.

Gray pulled at his arms again, his attempts being futile and resulting in nothing but sharp pain and another yank upwards. His neck felt like it would rip apart from his spinal cord if Rexile didn't stop. He could hear and feel small pops from the inside of his ears.

"R-Rexile...s-sto–_ngh!" _Gray shrieked behind gritted teeth. Tears stung at the corners of his eyes and his breaths came out in labored huffs. He felt the muscles in his shoulders and neck tensing up.

"I guess we can get rid of this then, can't we?" Rexile dropped his head almost entirely sideways and locked onto Gray's eyes. Rexile kept on forcing Gray's head up, while his arms stayed locked below him.

"_No, please, not like this! NO!" _Gray begged to himself.

_Boom._

_Thud._

_Crash._

Gray was released from the hand holding him up, his head flopped forward like a deadweight. He released a massive sigh of relief. He could've cried tears of joy over the fact that his head was still attached to his body. But, what the hell were those crashes from? He didn't have the strength to lift his neck very much at the moment, but he glanced to the side and gasped.

Elaina stood ahead of him with the three other Trackers behind her.

"E-Elaina? What the hell are you doing here? Why are the rest of them here?!" She didn't respond. Instead, she lifted her hand forward, her eyes glowing the same white color they head just a little while ago. The eyes of the Trackers behind her lit up simultaneously. Gray's eyes widened. She could control them? Was that what her magic could do?

Elaina lifted her hand forward, giving the Trackers their orders.

"_Protect Gray Fullbuster. Eliminate Rexile, Tracker number four."_ The Trackers darted forward. Lockson, and Clover closed in on either side of Rexile before he had even managed to stand.

An explosion could be seen ahead of them as the three Trackers leapt back into the forest from where Gray had come. They flew around the tree tops and dashed amongst the grounds of the shrubbery. Trees were manipulated left and right from Clover and Rexile's magic attacks toward each other.

Occasionally, Clover would get a hold of him and Lockson would close in with some type of explosive attack. The lanky man moved at inhuman speeds. He looked like a blob of color darting through the air, that was the best Gray could make him out from where he was.

Ferya walked up to Gray and placed his two hands where Gray's arms were trapped. Gray watched in awe as the vines disintegrated. When released, he almost fell to the ground. That is, if Elaina hadn't darted forward and caught him under the armpits. Ferya darted forward and into the fray. He could be seen casting support spells on Clover and Lockson that would increase the ability of their magic powers.

"Elaina?" Gray asked cautiously. Her eyes had returned to their normal color. A defiant look presented itself on her features. She shifted Gray so his right arm was slung over her shoulders.

"Gray, remind me to thank you later," she commented.

"Okay, but what for?"

"For breaking the seal on my magic. If I'm not mistaken, I think I understand why my father wanted to revive the Queen so badly now." Gray followed her eyes to see her staring up at the Trackers who were in a full blown battle much farther down the path they had traveled on that morning.

"Also, Gray?"

"Yeah?"

"Just follow my lead for now," she winked at him.

He immediately understood as they heard the sound of dozens of footsteps trailing behind them quickly. The footsteps were accompanied by the clanging of metal armor and weapons from the King's royal army. Gray smirked as he saw tears in her eyes. She leaned forward and whispered in his ear.

"_Act like you're hurt. Drop all of your weight to the ground,"_ he did just that. She fumbled briefly, falling down with him. He purposely tried to land on the side Rexile had hit him earlier, making his reactions more genuine. He furrowed his brow and his breathing became more strained.

Elaina wrapped an arm underneath his back and put one hand against the right side of his head, holding him close to her chest. Doing so, she hid his face from view. He could feel her tears landing on his cheeks and neck.

"_Gotta give the girl props, she sure is a good actress,"_ Gray mused to himself.

"Quick, there they are! Elaina!" she heard Lauren's voice. The guards and medics ran up to them. Miss Madeleine was with the crew as well.

"Oh my heavens children, what on Earth has happened to you?!" she cried dramatically, worried for the two teens on the ground in front of her. Elaina sniffed, Gray could feel her turn to look somewhere.

"We went swimming and got separated from Gray, and the Trackers came out of nowhere and attacked him!" she cried desperately. "Look, they're up ahead! Something's wrong with them, y-you have to tell my father!" she sobbed.

"Don't worry Lady Elaina, we will do whatever it takes to protect you all," Miss Madeleine promised. A flash of light was seen in the distance followed by a rumble and a crashing sound.

"_Well, at least I know where she gets it from," _Gray noted. He could suddenly feel someone pulling him to lay flat on the ground off of Elaina's lap. His skin that the tree had cut into earlier that day stung as he was placed on the ground. He tensed up and arched his back, trying to keep the cuts from being touched.

"My my, this is terrible. This young man is in need of medical attention!" Madeleine exclaimed. "Quick, get him onto a stretcher and bring him to the emergency room of the medical center in the west wing of the castle! He needs the best doctors we have right now," she trailed off, placing a hand on the boy's forehead. She received a hiss from Gray and immediately pulled her hand back. She pushed his hair back to see dried blood at his hairline. Elaina gasped, Gray could tell this one was more genuine than the last.

"_That's right, she's never seen what her father's men do to people," _He had almost forgotten about that.

"Gray, can you hear me? What happened?" Elaina asked. The medics had opened up various cases and boxes from a truck that had driven up.

"Green-haired guy attacked me on my way back. Stomach and head hurt. He yanked at my neck really hard, I can't really move my head right now," he grunted. That, wasn't acting. It was true that he was still in pain from Rexile beating on him. His ribs had just fared much better this time than the last.

Three medics leaned down and began examining him. They looked into his eyes with small, intense flashlights. His head was lifted and held by a pair of two hands as he saw an oxygen mask come down over his nose and his mouth. A medic tightened it in the back and his head was gently placed back down. Next, a brace was slid over his head and fastened securely around his neck. Gray could feel a board slide itself underneath him as the medics moved him up onto a stretcher. Honestly, Gray was fighting to keep his eyes open. Rexile had really done a number on him, _again_. As his eyelids grew heavier, he tried his best to talk to Elaina and Miss Madeleine.

"-laina, Mad...leine-" he mumbled. He definitely had a concussion, talking shouldn't have been this hard. His sentences were starting to come out in pieces rather than anything coherent. Aside from the medical gear all over him, he was starting to have trouble forming words. Elaina ran up beside the stretcher as it was lifted up into the truck it had come in. She placed a comforting hand at his side.

"I'm right here, Gray," she gently rubbed her fingers up and down his arm to try and calm him. He did his best to glance down at her, beginning to lose the battle of consciousness. Sweat formed on his bloodied brow as his eyes began to slide shut. He had to tell her about the others, he'd be damned if he didn't.

"Others coming tonight...balcony, look...for 'hem-" he struggled. She nodded, understanding that his teammates must have had a task of some kind to come back to him and complete. She would need to find a way to meet them at the balcony in his room tonight.

"Gray, rest. We'll take care of the rest," she held his hand in hers and gave a gentle squeeze. With that, he smiled faintly. He gave into the exhaustion and his eyes slipped shut.

Natsu, Lucy, and Happy were the last team to arrive back at the hotel. They happily dragged a very upset Alexander all the way there. The boy was covered in dirt and mud and glared up at the Fairy Tail trio furiously.

Natsu tossed the boy up and let him land harshly over his shoulder as they walked through the lobby and up to their room. They certainly received some odd looks on their way up, but none had the gall to stop them for fear of landing the same fate as the brown-haired child. Lucy walked ahead of them and stopped.

"You good, Luce?" he and Happy tipped their heads in confusion.

"Yeah, but I just realized we can't go through the lobby because of…well, ya know…" she pointed at Alexander.

"Oh, right," Natsu didn't seem phased by it. Before he could do something rash (as Lucy so kindly put it), she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled out her walkie.

"_This is Team Natsu, we've just arrived at the hotel."_

"_Hi Lucy, we're in room 225. It's at the end of the hall on the second floor."_

"_Great, thanks. But um…" _a muffled noise could be heard behind her. "_...we brought company."_ Above them, their friends looked frantically at one another. What did 'company' mean?

–

So when I left this on a cliff hanger...I didn't make it an eleven-month long cliff hanger on purpose. This chapter's shorter, but I want to put some more time into this story so I don't get too burnt out on my other one. Any and all feedback is appreciated.


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